


Children in Time

by TheatreGirl79



Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-03-22 07:27:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 50
Words: 84,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3720277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheatreGirl79/pseuds/TheatreGirl79
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strangeness abounds when a group of American friends find themselves landing in Torchwood's lap. But who is about to get the bigger shock, the Americans, or Torchwood?</p>
<p>Originally written several years ago for the TARDIS Big-Bang challenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Owen let out a sigh that seemed to echo from deep within his guts. He ran his sinewy fingers through his cropped, dark hair and leaned back in his office chair. Dr. Owen Harper's lean frame appeared to be sprawled in the seat, not a care in the world. Yet, if anyone could see into his mind, they could watch with fascination the synapses crackling every which way as he processed the latest mystery to come across Torchwood's desk.

Torchwood. Torchwood was an enigma within itself. Sometimes its employees, members, whatever, didn't even know what Torchwood was about. Oh, yes, there was the whole secret organisation apart from the government, apart from the police, the blah-blah-blah crap that Jack used to scare new people away with.

Jack. Jack-fucking-Harkness. Owen's hands scrambled around the top of his desk and snatched up a blue pen. Jack Harkness–, wait, no, _Captain_ Jack Harkness just kept blathering on about the latest case somewhere over Owen's head. Owen gripped the pen wanting to just stab it into Jack's face. Instead he took a breath and propping his elbow up on the arm of the chair, he began tapping the pen against his head; a specific rhythm trying to calm himself down and to keep him from murdering his boss, again.

"Owen, are you even paying attention," Tosh asked him from her desk a couple of feet away. 

Toshiko Sato. Cute girl, especially wearing the flattering skirts, like the black one she was wearing today, with the plunging neckline on the green top. She was probably a really good lay; it was always the quiet ones that surprised people, like she had with Mary. Owen even knew Tosh would make a good mother and wife someday, if she survived past the age of thirty. Torchwood kind of prevented employees from having children, from having anything even parading itself around like a normal life, sometimes even from living.

"I'm listening as much as I need to, Tosh." Owen nearly spat out her name. "But what Jack here is telling us is nothing new, especially dealing with the Dok'nal. Why are we bleeding sitting here rehashing old news when I have two bodies down in the morgue I should be autopsying to find out if there are any airborne illnesses spreading themselves into our air and into our lungs."

Jack stood right next to Owen, arms crossed against his chest, leaning back and looking down. He was looking down on him. Sanctimonious bastard. Why the hell should he be looking down on him? The man never changed, not even his clothing style, as if World War II was still the hot thing to be wearing. Oh sorry, wait, today Jack had his sleeves rolled up on his blue shirt, and one of his grey braces was askew. Wow, casual.

"If you need to go, why don't you," Jack asked, as he turned away and faced Gwen and Ianto at Gwen's desk.

Sometimes Owen wondered if Jack had ever really forgiven him, forgiven any of them for opening the Rift months ago. The man had come back from the dead and had said he had forgiven them, but then he disappeared. Oh sure, he shows up to save their arses and to shag Ianto, but Owen found himself often wondering just what had changed in Jack and why he came back.

But like hell he was going to kowtow to Jack like his mother always wanted him to do to her. He was his own man, no family to hold him back. Although, Torchwood was more of a family than he had had in a long time, and that was a really scary thought.

Owen looked at Jack's backside and before he could even think about how much he wanted to be Jack's favourite Torchwood child, he'd stood up rather quickly from the chair, sending it rolling backwards a couple of feet. Gwen looked up from her desk, pushing a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear. She slowly shook her head and then looked towards Ianto, anywhere but at Owen.

"I have a body-like substance to go carve up, if you don't mind," Owen stated as he headed up the stairs towards the autopsy bay, away from the desks and the little chit-chat session.

"Substance?" Tosh looked at him quizzically, her straight dark hair falling forward, framing her face, making her look almost angelic.

Owen hurriedly looked away and glared at Ianto. "If someone hadn't shot it in its main body region, it would have held together better."

Ianto raised his chin up and flattened his blue tie against his red shirt. "I was trying to save your life."

"I didn't ask you to."

"Fine. Next time I will just let it devour you and from the pit of its stomach you can explain to the little old ladies why it ate their husbands, too." Ianto turned on his well-polished heels and headed towards the main cog door and the tourist office that provided their cover.

"That is enough." Jack's voice seemed to echo in the cavernous office. "You two need to stop this right now or I am bringing out the measuring tape and settling it once and for all." Jack pointed at both Owen and Ianto with a hand each.

"Measuring tape? What for?" Gwen looked from man to man and then the realisation suddenly hit her. Her mouth formed an "oh" and she sat down at her workstation.

"That won't be necessary," Ianto answered primly.

"Yeah, afraid you'll lose," Owen sniped.

"My God! You can be such children sometimes!" Tosh slapped the pile of notes she was holding in her hands onto the desk of her workstation. She turned away from them, hands on her hips, her head held high and started looking at the CCTV feeds coming from the exterior and interior cameras.

"I'll be upstairs," Ianto said.

At the same time Owen stated, "I'll be in autopsy."

Both men regarded each other, Owen goading Ianto on with his eyes. Almost as if on cue, both men turned away, Owen huffing his shoulders, and headed to their respective domains. Owen had just reached the top of the steps, pausing when he heard Tosh taking a deep breath behind him. A really deep breath, followed by an inordinate amount of clicking away on her computer.

"Tosh, sweetie, what's wrong?" Gwen asked as she manoeuvred around her desk and stood next to Tosh.

Tosh had put her glasses on and was peering intently at the computer screens surrounding her. She was muttering something under her breath but Owen couldn't make it out. That intensity in her was never a good sign. Owen hurried back down the stairs to the pseudo-office area.

"Come on girl, tell us what it is," Owen said.

"It's gone, how can it be gone?" Her fingers seemed to fly over the keypad, every stroke deliberate and on its mark.

"Just what exactly is gone?" Ianto stood on the far side of Tosh, looking over her shoulder at the CCTV footage she kept pulling up.

"The Weevil, the one we brought in last night. It's gone from its cell."

"But that's impossible. Weevils can't just leave, can they?" Gwen's face grimaced in thought. "If it's not in its cell, then where is it?"

"In Jack's office? Maybe he wanted to have a little fun," Owen suggested sarcastically.

"Nah. Weevils aren't my cup of tea. Too many claws getting in the way, and they have a habit of scratching you in places you didn't know you had." 

Jack put his hands in his pockets and Owen noticed that the man had already armed himself with his gun. When and how he did that, Owen was unsure. 

"Is it still in the Hub or did it make it outside?" Jack continued.

"I don't know. I can't find it on the footage. It's moving really quickly and just out of view of some of the cameras." Tosh pushed her glasses back up her nose and let out a sigh.

"You're telling me the Weevils are getting smarter? Just bloody great!" Owen threw his hands up in the air.

"All right, split up. We'll make our way outside. Gwen and I will take the lift, Owen and Ianto, you make your way out through the tourist office. Tosh, you stay down here monitoring CCTV and try to find any signs of the Weevil," Jack grabbed his long, blue coat as Ianto held it out to him. "And find out how it got out of the cells in the first place."

Owen stalked over to his desk and yanked open a drawer, pulling out his revolver. He checked the cartridge and then slipped it into the back waistband of his jeans. Kneeing the drawer, he slammed it shut again and hurried towards the big cog door, shouldering Ianto as he strode past the young man. Owen didn't even turn around to see Ianto's reaction.

"Be careful," Tosh called as she continued to monitor the CCTV footage from inside the Hub. "We don't know what state the Weevil is in or if it had help."

"Right," Gwen replied as she slid a can of Weevil spray into her coat pocket. She closed the black denim coat over her green sweater. "You just keep watch on our backs, Tosh."

"Oh, I like that," Jack stated as he stepped up onto the cement slab at the side of the water reservoir that pooled itself in their office from the fountain above them. He then opened a brown leather wrist strap on his left arm and looked up at Gwen as she walked over to the cement slab. Jack held out a hand to Gwen, helping her up onto the invisible lift that would take them out by the fountain. He pushed a button on the wrist-strap and flipped the leather strap shut with a snap as the lift began to ascend.

Owen stood just outside the cog door and rolled his eyes. He looked at Ianto and dramatically motioned up the stairs, nearly bowing before the boy. "Oh but after you," Owen said in an affected voice. He could not make out what Ianto grumbled under his breath as the younger man started up the stairs, the tails of Ianto's suit jacket flapping behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

Wales Millennium Centre was crowded for midday. Samantha watched as people ducked in and out of the two main art galleries, a group of children just released from their theatre classes acted out a scene from a recent play, and lovers, mothers and children, friends, just strolled and enjoyed the view; the view and a very sunny day. She brought her camera up and snapped a couple of pictures of the crowd. It was nice to see people enjoying civic centers and the waterfront as much as they did back home in Chicago.

A sweet breeze blew off Mermaid Bay and came ashore, ruffling her red hair. She chuckled as several people smiled, relishing the cool breeze. Hearing an argument start up behind her, Samantha turned on her heel and faced the other four people she had shared this trip across England with for the last three weeks.

"Get down from there!" Jillian stood with hands on her hips, her skirt and long black hair flowing in the breeze. "I refuse to pick up after you if you get yourself hurt or drown yourself in the bay!" Her brown eyes flashed as she stared at her friend.

"Oh, come on now!" David looked down in the Bay.

"Are you trying to make sure people know we're not from around here? Go look at the kooky tourists!" Jillian looked to her traveling companions for some support. Sometimes she just needed a little encouragement. She was the youngest of the group of friends, but in her 27 years she had seen and done a lot.

"Can't I just have a little fun?" David put one of his legs over the top of the railing he was sitting on, so now he was straddling them. He looked over at Samantha and gave her a smirk. "See, Sam thinks it's fun. She's still taking pictures."

Samantha smiled as she snapped a picture of David, his t-shirt a dark brown to match his eyes. For being the oldest of the group, David sometimes acted like the youngest. He certainly seemed more like 12 than 34. His eyes were laughing as he watched Jillian, Elizabeth and Lynnae fret over him. He played coy, but he loved the attention when the girls fussed over him. A couple of times he had even called himself "Charlie" and them his "Angels."

"She would! You two are so much alike." Lynnae stuck her thumbs behind her braces and started running the thumbs along the material, up and down. "You know I don't like heights. Even when it's somebody else up there I don't like it. Tight-rope walkers even scare the crap out of me! You're just teasing me!" Lynnae then jammed her hands down into the pockets of her blue trousers as she glared at David.

"David! Quit fooling around. Don't make me get a cop or something to make you behave." Elizabeth tugged down her red waistcoat and gave David her best teacher glare. Being the next eldest after David, Elizabeth made sure he knew it.

"Fine, fine, fine. I know I'm beat when Beth starts pulling out the teacher looks," David said as he swung his leg back over the railing away from the water of Mermaid Bay. He hopped down and adjusted his dark denim jeans. "Which, by the way, is totally unfair. That's like a secret weapon, the teacher glare. I feel sorry for your prospective students."

Elizabeth stalked over and then smacked David hard in the shoulder. "You are such an ass sometimes."

"OW!" David began to rub his left shoulder. "I did not deserve that."

"Yes you did." Elizabeth then proceeded to whack David on the left shoulder again. She then turned her back to him and smoothed down invisible wrinkles in her black tailored trousers.

"Great. I should have known a month-long vacation would involve that time of the month."

Elizabeth whirled back around, her arm raised up. Samantha took a step forward but she was too far away. Lynnae nearly flew in between David and Elizabeth, her hands on each one's shoulders.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You two–" Lynnae looked from David to Elizabeth.

"She's always making it physical–"

"He always pulls this stuff–"

"I always pull what stuff? If it wasn't for me–"

"We wouldn't have to get two rooms, you boy!"

"Boy? Excuse me? This is all man."

"Says who? You momma's boy."

"Don't you start–"

"I just wanted to go on holiday–"

"Then why aren't you paying for–"

"SHUT UP!" Jillian strode over and stood next to Lynnae, separating David and Elizabeth even more. She stared at the two friends and pursed her lips. Jillian put her hands on her hips and stuck her chest out. "Can't we just enjoy our trip? Do you realize how rare this is for all of us to be able to have a whole month off? Now, just quit bickering or go and have sex, whatever you two need to do to get past this." 

"Ewwwww…" Elizabeth looked at Jillian like she had sprouted two heads. "Did you just suggest I have sex with David?"

"Yes. No. I don't know! Just quit arguing." Jillian gave a little pout and looked down at her black ballet shoes, her hair falling forward and partially hiding her face.

Lynnae put her hand on Jillian's shoulder and smiled at her. "I don't think they can quit. What else would they do?"

"Oh whatever!" David threw his hands up in the air and walked back by the railing. He leaned over, looking into the waters of Cardiff Bay. "Ask why she has been having such a problem with me being a boy lately."

"Actually, you have," Jillian said looking up at Elizabeth. She absent-mindedly smoothed down the gray t-shirt that Elizabeth wore.

Elizabeth's shoulders hunched forward. "Sorry. I didn't know how to tell you guys." Elizabeth looked out over the bay, her hazel eyes misting over. "Greg and I are splitting up. He didn't want me to take this vacation, but he was already starting on other little things. He can't understand why I want to teach, and he keeps accusing me of keeping secrets from him because I hang out with you guys."

"Then you don't need him," Lynnae stated, putting her other hand on Elizabeth's shoulder.

"You will always have us. Sometimes we're worse than family," Samantha said as she shouldered her camera and came up behind Elizabeth, putting a hand on her back.

Jillian shot David a look and slightly nodded her head towards Elizabeth. David rolled his eyes and ambled over to the group. He stood next to Elizabeth, hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, what they said."

Elizabeth sniffed and then gave a weak smile. "Thanks guys. Sorry I've been so bitchy lately."

"You were? We hardly noticed," Samantha snarked, smiling. She brushed her red hair back behind her ear, and looked around. "Why don't we continue exploring?"

"Sounds like a plan," Lynnae said enthusiastically and grabbed up her small brown leather bag. She started heading towards the stones and the water fountain. 

"Did you know that Cardiff goes all the way back to Roman days? Although, it was hardly a village then," Jillian stated without having to pull out a guide book. The girl had a very good memory when it came to facts, figures, prices, and all kinds of things. "Even now, there are only 317,500 people in the unitary authority area. If it weren't for the docks and the bay, Cardiff would have not become the city it is. It was due to the export of Welsh coal to areas outside the county of Glamorgan. The coal came from the Cynon, Rhondda, and Rhymney Valleys," Jillian supplied as they crossed across a big patch of concrete. "Oh, in fact, the village used to be called Glamorganshire."

David trotted forward, catching up with Samantha and whispering in her ear. "She thinks she knows everything, doesn't she?"

Samantha let out a light giggle. "It wouldn't hurt you to learn something new sometimes."

"Hey, I got my interests. What I don't know, I know where to look it up."

Samantha rolled her eyes and continued following the other women towards the fountain. She readjusted her leather coat. She looked around the Millennium Centre and smiled. It felt so calm here, so natural, especially being on the water. Except for some little things here and there, she could almost imagine she was home in Chicago. She came to a stop before she nearly collided into the back of Lynnae. Automatically she reached out and grabbed Lynnae's braces and let them snap.

"Ow! Do you mind?" Lynnae spun on her boot heels and huffed out her lips, puffing her nose at Samantha, fixing her with a pissy look.

"No, I don't."

"Ugh! Guys! I was just telling you how cool it is that Cardiff is built on limestone." Jillian stood there looking from one to the other.

"Never mind that, let's check out the fountain," David interjected.

"It's really cool," Elizabeth said as she looked up at the top of it.

"It's neat. Hey!" Samantha turned to them and brought her camera forward. "How about we get a group shot of you guys in front of it?"

"Oh, okay," Jillian said as she stepped back.

"You're always taking the pictures, why don't you get in the shot," Lynnae entreated.

"And just how do I do that?" Samantha waved her camera and her hand at Lynnae.

"Ask that couple over there," Lynnae said, nodding her head at two older gentlemen across the concrete from them.

"Couple? How do you know that," Elizabeth asked.

"They're holding hands and nearly cuddling. Oi!" Lynnae briskly started walking towards the couple, snatching the camera out of Samantha's hands as she walked past. 

"Hey!' Samantha didn't even get a response from Lynnae. She watched as Lynnae talked to the two men and she could see her explaining how to use the camera. Lynnae suddenly started walking back towards them with the two men in tow and gave the group a thumbs up. Samantha let out a sigh and started herding the others over by the fountain.

"This is Steve and Paul," Lynnae said as she pointed to the two men. "They said they would be happy to take our picture for us."

"Not a problem," the dark haired man said, smiling.

"Thanks," Lynnae said as she grabbed Samantha by the shoulder and they got into the picture.

Samantha took the end spot and looked to her right. There stood Jillian, Elizabeth, Lynnae, David and then her, with the fountain a brilliant background behind them, its cascading waters sparkling in the sunlight. The man took the picture and then held the camera out to them.

"Thanks so much," Lynnae said as she took the camera back. 

They watched the two men take each other's hand and walk back across the Centre. A cloud rolled across the sun and Samantha looked up as the sky darkened. A shiver traipsed down her spine and Samantha tried to shake it off. She adjusted her backpack, hearing the plethora of badges attached to it jingle against each other.

"Where to next?" Lynnae tapped her heeled boots against the concrete as she shoved her hands back into her pockets.

"Well, in the Centre itself are at least two art galleries, and one is always open to the public." Jillian looked towards the building.

"I saw a sign for a tourist office somewhere around here. How about I go and grab some brochures?" Elizabeth looked to the others.

"Ohhh… okay then." Jillian wrapped her sweater coat around herself tightly.

"I'll go with you," David piped up.

Elizabeth gave David a particularly nasty look. "Why?"

"Because, dork, they might have a bathroom or something. I swear, I think we have hit every coffee and tea shop from here to the Thames." David started waving his hand, giving Elizabeth the signal to get going.

"Oh whatever! If it was up to you we would have hit every pub from here to Glasgow," Elizabeth said as she started walking away from their little group.

"There is nothing wrong with hitting a pub every so often. Definitely more fun than your little old lady tea houses." David ran to catch up with Elizabeth.

"You just don't like it because there are no women, or men, for you to make out with in the coffee shops. They have actual class."

Samantha couldn't make out the rest of the conversation as they took off across the Centre. She turned back to the fountain and saw the sun trying to break through the clouds as a random ray flitted across the stones. Samantha changed the F-Stop and was able to hold the exposure for long enough to get a sparkling shot.

"Remind me to ask them if there were any cute postcards I could mail to little Eve. She loves collecting them." Jillian cocked her head to the side just staring at the fountain and tried to pat down a wind-blown strand of hair.

Lynnae came up and put her arm around Jillian's shoulders. "Hey, never mind them. You're brilliant and they don't realize what they are missing out on." She turned her head and looked Jillian in the eyes. "And you are a great mother. Eve is a lucky little girl."

"Thanks." Jillian looked down and started picking at her nails. "I was worried about leaving her, this is the longest I have been away from her since she was born, but she seems to be having a blast staying with her grandparents and playing with her cousins when they visit."

"Hey, she learned to roll with the punches from you. She's one smart cookie and so are you." Lynnae reached up with her hand, and stroked the younger woman's hair.

Jillian looked up at Lynnae and smiled wanly. "Thanks," she mumbled. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I am parched. I'm just going to run inside to that coffee shop we saw a little bit ago and grab some drinks. Caffeine all around?"

"Sure," Samantha said. "Need some cash?"

"Nah, I got it," Jillian said as she turned around and started briskly walking away, getting swallowed up by the crowd.

"Now that they are gone, how about some fun of our own," Lynnae said suggestively as she raised an eyebrow. 

There was a pause as both Lynnae and Samantha looked at each other. Lynnae then reached into her little handbag and pulled out a rather small digital camera. Samantha closed her eyes and shook her head and put her camera strap around her neck.

"You are incorrigible," Samantha stated.

"Yes, but you love it." Lynnae smirked at Samantha.

"Whatever." The two women started taking different pictures around the Roald Dahl Plass, eventually winding their way back to the fountain. 

"Did you get a shot of the couple by the–"

"Well, duh. I also got an awesome shot of the sun behind the roof of the building." Samantha shot a satisfied smug look to Lynnae.

"Oh, it's so on then." Lynnae began concentrating on her camera and trying to find a great shot to one-up Samantha. 

When it came to certain things, like photography, Lynnae and Samantha could be quite competitive, almost to the point of seeming rude to outside observers, but it was mutual admiration. Some of their friends back home even joked that maybe they were sisters in a past life. Samantha had just taken a great people "feature" shot to possibly use in another book, or at least to look at for inspiration for her next novel, when she looked up and didn't see Lynnae.

"Hey!" Samantha quickly spun around, and was relived to see Lynnae walking next to the fountain. She was concentrating so much on her camera she wasn't even looking where she was going. "Watch out for–"

Samantha swallowed her words as she saw Lynnae take a step forward and plummet through a hole in the ring of stones around the fountain. Samantha dashed over, skidding to a halt in front of the hole, which looked too dark; especially knowing it had just swallowed up Lynnae. She looked down into the recess and saw Lynnae lying face down on a slab of cement. A slab of cement that seemed to be moving towards them, and Lynnae was sprawled on top of someone.

"What the fuck?" 

A brunette woman standing next to the two flat people looked up at Samantha with wide eyes. She then looked back down at the pair. "Jack? Are you okay?"

Samantha could not hear the man's comments due to the distance and the fact that he was buried under Lynnae. The slab of cement kept approaching her and she could see that Lynnae's head was hanging over the side of the cement, and so was the man's.

"Lynnae? Lynnae are you okay?" 

Lynnae shook her head meekly from side-to-side. As they got closer, Samantha could see Lynnae's white knuckles gripping the man's coat. The man seemed to be trying to get her up or something. Samantha couldn't quite tell.

"Lynnae, is anything broken? Are you hurt?"

Samantha could not hear Lynnae's response because she suddenly buried her head in the man's shoulder and Samantha could see the girl start to shake. She understood why when she saw beyond the cement slab and saw the drop that Lynnae was getting a full view of. She had always joked, but never meant it, that Lynnae's fear of heights would be the death of her.

She looked on with fear as she saw the cement slab rapidly closing in on her and realized that Lynnae and the man would be crushed if they didn't move, but knowing Lynnae she was probably frozen with fear. Very few things made Lynnae fearful, and here she was face-to-face with one of them. Samantha shoved her camera down deep into her backpack and dropped it to the ground. She fell to her knees next to the hole. She saw one young punk-looking guy regard her oddly as he walked past and she wondered why he didn't stop to help.

"Lynnae! Listen to me! Don't look around, just get up. Get up on your knees at least, and let the man get up." Samantha looked at the increasing short space and she could hear Lynnae's whimpers they were so close. "Damn it Lynnae! I am not telling your parents you died in Wales! Stand up please, or at least take my hand."

Samantha reached down into the hole; this was how close they were. She could just touch the brunette's hair. The brunette looked from Samantha to Lynnae and the man and quickly stooped down and grasping the man's lapels on his coat, she heaved both the man and Lynnae up to a sitting position, just narrowly missing hitting their heads on the ground under Samantha's feet. Samantha fell back on her heels and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

The man struggled with Lynnae, but she would not let go of him, burying her head in his chest, still whimpering. With the help of the brunette, the man stood up, and Lynnae looked like if she could, she would be sharing the man's long gray coat with him. 

Samantha stood up and walked towards them. She gently placed a hand on Lynnae's back and could feel the shudders still echoing through the girl's body. "Lynnae, it's okay. It's okay now. Let the good man go so we can see if you're hurt." She moved her free hand over Lynnae's left hand and started to pry the woman's fingers off the man's coat. 

Lynnae's hand slowly uncurled and Samantha tugged it free. She then moved between Lynnae and the man and pried her right hand off the other side of the man's coat. Once Lynnae was free of the man, Samantha set her down on a stone two feet away from where the hole had been, but Lynnae still looked at the spot she had fallen through warily. Samantha caught the brunette following Lynnae's gaze and then looking at the man strangely.

She looked down into Lynnae's tear-streaked face. "Did you break anything? Hit anything? Hurt your ankle when you fell," Samantha asked as she began to check over Lynnae's white hands and arms for scratches. 

Lynnae shook her head no and then looked down, trying to breathe deeply. 

The brunette walked over and crouched down in front of Lynnae. "Are you sure you're okay, sweetheart?"

"She'll be fine, once I get her calmed down. I tried to warn her about the hole, but I guess we were too pre-occupied." Samantha tried to smile warmly at the man and the brunette but inside her head she was still mentally checking over Lynnae.

The man crossed his arms across his chest. "Are you telling me you can see the hole in the ground?"

"Well, not anymore, it closed up," Samantha snapped.

"And she walked right into it," the brunette said as she stood up and stood next to the man.

"How else do you think she fell?" Samantha pulled a tissue out of her backpack and dabbed at a small scratch that was slightly bleeding on Lynnae's chin.

"I thought that wasn't possible," she could hear the brunette mutter.

"It's not supposed to be," the man replied.


	3. Chapter 3

Elizabeth opened the door to the small tourist office and padded inside, trying to not pay any attention to David. She could hear his brown boots slap against the cement behind her, but she looked anywhere but at him. She stepped inside and let the door close behind her, blocking David out in the world.

She could feel the breeze as the door was flung open and David slid inside, stopping behind her. He tapped her on the shoulder and she turned only her head to look at him.

"Yes?" she asked.

"What the fuck? How many times did I try to tell you to quit walking so fast and wait for me? Was the devil on your heels?"

"Maybe," Elizabeth said and moved over to a rack of brochures for some of the various castles in Wales.

"Oh, very funny– What the hell? Where is everybody?" David tugged up his jeans and looked around the empty tourist office.

"They heard you were coming?" Elizabeth didn't even turn to look at David, instead she picked up a brochure on Castle Coch and started reading it.

"Excuse me?" She could feel David walk behind her to the far end of the counter. "Although, good one." Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as he leaned over the counter, and picked up a handful of papers, and started to look at them.

Elizabeth darted over to David and grabbed the papers from David's grasp, crinkling them. She tossed them back behind the counter. "Those aren't yours!"

Both of them watched as the papers fell on the lip of the counter, and teetered a moment. Elizabeth went to turn back to David, to continue admonishing him for touching other people's things when they heard the almost-silent slip of papers on a counter. She turned her head back just in time to see the papers cliff themselves over the edge, spilling themselves across the floor behind the counter.

"Good job!" David walked behind the counter and stooped down to pick up the papers.

"You can't do that! It says ‘Employees Only.' Get out from there!"

"I'm picking up your mess! Quit flipping out." David said as he looked up at Elizabeth. He went back to the papers, trying to snatch them up quickly from the tile floor.

Elizabeth grunted and then almost dived over the counter, bringing her arm down towards David's head. He ducked and fell back on his ass, some of the papers clenched in his fist as he caught himself with the other hand jammed onto the floor, stopping his head from hitting the wall.

"Missed me! Aha– _Ah_! That's hot! Son of a bitch!" David scrambled up, brushing at the front of his jeans. "Goddamn it!"

"Are you okay?" Elizabeth pulled herself back, hands up covering her mouth. "Oh my God, I am so sorry. I am really sorry, are you okay?" Elizabeth scurried over to the opening in the counter to go back behind it and check on David when he held up his hand.

"Stop! Don't you even dare. Stay over there, I will take care of it." He threw the scrunched and soggy papers on top of the counter. "I don't need any more of your help thank you very much!"

"What happened?"

"You missed me but knocked over the coffee cup!" David bent down and picked up the now empty cup. "Well, whoever runs this dump can't be gone long, it was still hot."

"I am so sorry."

"Quit saying that. Just quit it," David said.

He dropped the cup onto the counter, a loud crack seeming to echo in the office, the office that continued to feel smaller and smaller, especially with both of them in it. Elizabeth watched the cup as it made small circles, around and around, taking forever to find its final resting place. She swallowed hard and then looked away, at anything but David. She started to speak, but he only grunted at her and held up his hand in her face. Elizabeth stepped back and leaned against the wall between a poster showing the countryside and a poster touting a local production of the Welsh National Opera.

"You can't go back there," Elizabeth started saying as David held open a beaded curtain to his right and peered in.

"I am doing whatever the hell I feel like. First of all, I would like to find some paper towels or something to wipe myself off with so no one thinks I pissed on myself." David ducked inside the curtain and the beads could be heard clacking against each other.

"Fine. Do whatever you want." Elizabeth tucked her chin into her chest and pushed off the wall and started to look at the other brochures, but she wasn't really reading any of them, her mind focused on David. 

Suddenly, a door behind her seemed to burst off its hinges. Startled, Elizabeth spun around and a cry snagged itself in her throat. Without warning she was face-to-face with a gray-faced beast of some sort. If it had been human at one time, it no longer was. It snarled at her, and bared all of its ferocious teeth in her direction.

It started advancing, loping at a fast pace, the creature's hands stretched out towards her throat. Elizabeth let out a whimper as it lunged forward.


	4. Chapter 4

David was snooping in the little side office when he heard a door in the main tourist office nearly blow out, or at least that's what it sounded like to him. He looked up with a start and peered in between the lines of the beaded curtain and his jaw nearly dropped to the ground. There was this hulk of a thing advancing on Elizabeth and he had no clue where it had come from.

He couldn't hear a word from her and couldn't tell if she was in danger. Then suddenly he saw it lunge at her and he heard a whimper from the girl that chilled him all the way to the bottom of his feet. 

For as much as Elizabeth annoyed the piss out of him, he couldn't just sit back and let something happen to her, especially not like this. Besides, if he had to explain to the rest of the girls that he let Elizabeth be attacked and did nothing, he would never be forgiven, and that scared him more than anything.

Looking around, David spotted another mug next to the half-empty coffee pot. The liquid would work for a defense, but what he needed was something quick, hard, and distracting. He snatched up the mug and sneaked over to the beaded curtain, hoping the thing didn't hear him with all the things that could make noise in this tiny office. Who had offices like this anyway?

David's mind was made up for him to opt for force rather than stealth when he heard a scream come from Elizabeth as the creature dug its claws into her and pulled her in tight. Holy hell it had claws! This thing had fucking claws and had Elizabeth. He jumped forward, and moved in front of the beaded curtain, little clacks reverberating around him as the beads bounced off the wall. David let out a cry and chucked the mug at the back of the creature's head with all his might, which was a lot considering he played high school baseball.

He was starting to regret it as the creature turned around and faced him. It was one ugly son of a bitch. It barely looked human, even though it was dressed in a boiler suit and stood on its own two legs like a human. Its dark eyes seemed to bore straight through him and he swore his heart stopped a moment. 

What really pissed him off though was the glistening red he saw around the creature's mouth. It looked just like blood in the fluorescent lights. David stooped down and looked at Elizabeth as she slumped to the ground, holding her shoulder, blood all over her. She looked incredibly pale and did not even look at David or the creature. Instead, David saw her try to pull herself along the wall and away from both of them. 

"Oh, that is it, you fucking ass! Now you have pissed me off, hurting my friend." David stood up, filling out his entire 5 feet and 11 inches, puffing out his chest. Behind his bravado, his heart thumped what felt like 100 times a second. "Come on ugly! You little-brained cretin!" 

David gestured with his one hand, motioning the creature towards him, while with the other hand he reached behind him, back through the sea of beads. His hand encircled the handle to the coffee pot and David gripped it tight. He tried to breathe through his nose, controlling his nerves at what suddenly seemed a really, truly foolish idea.

"Scared to fight a real man you foul organism of shit? Come on, piss me off even more!" He lifted the coffee pot off its warmer and held it, his back against the doorjamb.

The creature inched closer to him, advancing at a steady pace as it worked its way along the counter coming upon the opening next to David. David's breath caught in his throat as he saw just how massive this thing was. He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing up in his throat.

"Okay, ugly, you want to dance? Sorry, not my cup of tea, or coffee." David brought his arm around the wall and tossed the hot brown liquid into the face of the creature. 

It howled in pain and clawed and pawed at its own face and he skirted around its outreaching arm and down to the other end of the counter, still stuck behind it. He found himself pinned behind the counter and looked over it at Elizabeth who was huddled against the wall, breathing pretty hard. She was still clutching her left shoulder and he could see blood dripping down her shirt. 

Her eyes locked with his and he then turned back to the creature, a sense of determination in him. There was no way he was going to die in some dingy little back office away from all the good things in life. He hadn't even had a decent last meal, and no, a pasty, or whatever they hell they called them here, did not count as a last meal.

The thing, with its teeth bared, all its very sharp teeth, hurtled around the corner of the counter, hitting its side off the sharp edge and yet that did not stop it. It dove for David, and David did the first thing that came to his mind. He vaulted over the top of the counter. His one knee hit the opposite side of the counter, but he was over it.

"Fuck!" David fell to his knees, not quite executing a 3-point landing, and ended up in front of Elizabeth. It felt like he might have cracked his kneecap, but he pushed that thought to the recesses of his mind. Her eyes were drooping a little, and whatever fight had been in her was slowly disappearing. "Elizabeth! Get up now!"

"No. I can't." Even her voice had lost its normal fight. That scared him. Losing Elizabeth, losing any of his friends, frightened him down to his core. He had lost so much before, and would not lose anyone else in his life without a fight.

"Yes! Get your ass up now, and grab my hand." He swore he could feel the creature's breath on the back of his neck, along with the cold sweat that had taken up residence there. He stood up, favoring his knee and held out his hand to Elizabeth. She meekly put her left hand in his and he yanked her up off the floor. She let out a wounded cry and her face contorted in pain. David didn't care, but turned around as he heard a clattering commotion behind him.

"Shit!" a voice said from somewhere else in the office. 

"Hey!" another voice could be heard. 

David turned his head and looked over his shoulder. Behind the creature he spotted two men. One seemed to be dressed for office work and the other looked as if he belonged with any of the garage bands he often went to check out in his free time. The relaxed looking man jumped in front of the creature before it could leap over the counter. He pushed back on the creature's shoulders, stopping it from moving forward. The creature punched out at the man in the black t-shirt over a red long-sleeve shirt. The man took the punch as he moved away and then shoulder slammed the creature, turning it around.

Behind the creature, the well-dressed younger looking man smiled and then sprayed some canister into the creature's face. It looked like he was using mace on it. Whatever it was, the creature let out a howl and hunched over. The man then whipped out a drawer behind the counter and pulled out a pair of large handcuffs and put them on the creature's wrists, behind its back.

"I got it," the man with the mace said as he wrestled the creature back towards the doorway all three of them had come through, a doorway that had not existed when Elizabeth and David had walked into the tourist office.

"What the fuck?" David turned his body around to look at the doorway, and its stone motif beyond the frame. When he turned, he also made sure to stay between Elizabeth and the others as he held her up.

Garage Band Guy pivoted his body and looked at them. He placed his hands on the countertop and his eyes seemed to get even darker. "Damn it," he said as he glared at David. The guy turned back to his partner and then looked back at David. "Get the Weevil downstairs, I got them."

"Fine. I'll let Jack know we got it– wait, Tosh just did. Hurry up." Well Dressed Guy struggled with the yowling creature as he entered the hidden passage and disappeared around the corner.

Garage Band Guy pushed up off the counter and sauntered around to David and Elizabeth. David grew nervous when he saw the gun sticking out of the waistband of the guy’s jeans. David started ushering Elizabeth towards the door that led to the outside.

"Sorry, buddy, gotta go. It was a real blast," David hurriedly said as he held Elizabeth up under the armpits, nearly dragging the poor girl towards the door, even as she whimpered in pain.

The guy ran around the pair and stood in front of them, blocking the main door. "I don't think so, we need– is she hurt? Did the Weevil do that?" The guy was staring at Elizabeth's bloody shoulder and torn shirt.

David put his arm around Elizabeth. "I don't know what the fuck a Weevil is, but I know that thing attacked her. Leave us alone and let me go, or–"

"Or what? I can help her. I'm a doctor." Garage Band Guy moved David's arm away and took Elizabeth's hand and felt for a pulse.

Elizabeth let out a groan as he touched her shoulder. David didn't know why but he felt the need to trust this dude. The two men lowered Elizabeth to the ground, so she could sit and rest, her back up against the wall. David watched as the man gently ripped the shoulder on Elizabeth's shirt and looked at the gouge. He then watched as the man's head looked away. David followed the other guy's gaze and his stomach dropped. There was a trail of blood; he hadn't realized how much blood Elizabeth had lost.

At the movement next to him, David turned back and saw Garage Band Guy taking off his black t-shirt and then pressing it against the wound on Elizabeth's shoulder. He grabbed David's hand and held it against the t-shirt.

"Keep the pressure on it and don't do anything." The guy then stood up and locked the main door to the office.

Elizabeth's eyes fluttered open and looked at David. "I'm sorry," Elizabeth said.

"Don't worry about it," David said, wanly smiling at her.

Elizabeth reached up and put her right hand over David's and he shuddered as he felt how cool her hand was. She closed her eyes, and David found himself praying that this so-called doctor knew what he was doing. The doctor crouched down next to David and moved David's hand to look at Elizabeth's injuries once more. He then moved the t-shirt back and placed David's hand back over it, pushing down. 

The guy tapped a Bluetooth earpiece he was wearing. "Jack, I think we might have a problem here."


	5. Chapter 5

Jack had stepped away from the two women and Gwen, wishing he could just hide amongst the various people darting back and forth through the Plass. He let out a sigh and looked skywards a moment as he responded to Owen.

"What kind of problem? Tosh already said you had the Weevil contained." The wind curled his long greatcoat around his legs and he looked back at Gwen, catching her eye as she listened in to the conversation on her own Bluetooth.

"Yeah, well, the Weevil attacked someone in the tourist office." Owen's voice crackled over the earpiece.

Jack licked his lips and let out a sigh. This was going to be a really long day. "What state is the body in?"

"Still breathing with a very protective friend hovering nearby. She's lost a lot of blood already. I need to at least get her down to the Hub."

"Do what you need to do, Owen. We have a situation of our own up here. Make sure Ianto offers the friend some coffee." Jack clicked off the earpiece and folded his arms across his chest, staring past Gwen to the two women who could see past the perception filter on the invisible lift. No one could see the lift, that was the whole point of a perception filter, no one but him, but that was because he was used to those kinds of filters and working with chameleon circuits. He cocked his head slightly to the right in thought.

Gwen dashed over to Jack. "Jack, what's going on? What are we doing with these women?"

Gwen looked back as the redhead stood up in front of the woman that had fallen and brushed off the dust from the back of her black pants. The redhead then held out a hand to the dark brunette and pulled her up from the cement slabs that encircled the fountain. The redhead adjusted the brunette's shirt and then smiled and nodded at the brunette, placing a hand on her shoulder and neck. The two turned and looked at Jack and Gwen.

Jack put his arms down to his sides and stuck his chin out. "Might as well get it over with. Come on." Jack stalked towards the redhead and brunette.

"Just what are we doing, Jack," Gwen asked as she followed on his heels.

They were almost on top of the pair who had turned and were facing both of them, when a striking girl with long black hair came running up to the redhead and brunette, her skirt flapping in the breeze as she took steady strides. Her face was flushed but her breathing was regular.

"Guys, we have a problem! Wait, you don't look right, what happened?" the black haired girl rambled to the other two women.

The redhead motioned with her eyes to the space behind the black haired girl. The girl turned around slowly and stepped back as she was face-to-face with Jack.

Jack held out his hand to the black haired girl. "Captain Jack Harkness, and you are?"

"Uh, Marsh, Jillian Marsh." Jillian limply took his hand and shook it and then stepped back in between the other two women. American. These women were definitely American from their speech to their mannerisms.

"Well, Marsh, Jillian Marsh, what kind of problem do you have?" Jack stuck his hands into the pockets of his navy blue trousers, as he looked upon the trio.

"Um, well… Wait! What business is it of yours?" Jillian stood there, her hands on her hips, jutting out her chest, attempting to look brave, but her eyes betrayed her. She was scared, and Jack felt like he needed to know why.

"It became my business when your friend here fell on top of me."

"Because there was a hole in the ground! Who puts a hole in the middle of a public space like this?" The redhead pointed her index finger at Jack.

"Uhhh... Samantha, I don't see a hole anywhere," Jillian said as she looked around the Plass.

"It was three feet to our left," the brunette filled in as she shivered.

"It closed up already. Another thing," the redhead, who Jack assumed was known as Samantha, continued on. "What the hell was down that hole? That was a really big drop. If you had fallen, or Lynnae had fallen… it was bad enough she was looking down into that cavern."

"Wait a minute! You mean to tell me there was a height to the hole, and she looked down into it?" On the "she," Jillian spun her head towards Lynnae.

Lynnae's lower lip quivered a moment and then she put up a mask, as her blue eyes locked with Jack's. He could feel her fear wash over him, just like it did on the invisible lift. Whatever it was about heights, it scared Lynnae to the core. Jack watched as Jillian brushed Lynnae's hair back over her shoulder and then pulled Lynnae into a hug. The two women pulled apart and Lynnae looked Jillian in the eyes. Jillian nodded her head in recognition and then pulled away.

"Since you're okay, we have other things to take care of. Since you seemed to be busy, I assume you didn't get the text message from David like a minute ago." Jillian looked from Lynnae to Samantha.

"Too busy falling into a hole," Lynnae stated.

"Too busy trying to save her ass from said hole," Samantha quipped.

"Elizabeth is hurt. David said something about her getting attacked or something and blood." Jillian pulled out her mobile and flipped open the clamshell. "Elizabeth hurt. We were attacked. Too much blood, not good. Hurry."

Samantha pulled out her own mobile, an iPhone and looked at it. "Crap! We gotta go. Where were they?"

"When they left, Elizabeth wanted to go to the tourist office, and David went with her. She claimed she wanted to get some brochures. Where was that tourist office?" Lynnae grabbed up her small brown bag. Whatever residual fear from the fall that had been still affecting her was gone.

"It was over that way and down a ramp. It was closer to the water than we are," Jillian supplied. " We need to hurry."

Jack felt a chill course through his body. He didn't even need to look at Gwen to know that she had made the connection, too. These three women were related to the one that the Weevil had attacked. Such a small world, and yet it did not surprise him. This was the least of the amount of coincidences he had experienced in his long life. Jack swooped around the women, jumping in front of them. 

"Excuse me? We have to go. It's been fun falling over you and stuff, but our friend needs us," Samantha said, an edge in her voice.

"We know what attacked your friend," Jack stated, hands on his hips, his coat pushed back. "Perhaps you had better come with us.


	6. Chapter 6

"That's how far I would have fallen! Oh, good God!" The brunette that Jack had informed them was named Lynnae looked upwards, her eyes growing wide as she took in the ceiling four stories above them. Her face visibly paled.

"You didn't, though," the redhead stated. Samantha, Ianto guessed. She gripped the strap on her backpack, which was flung over her left shoulder. Her right hand found its way to her hip as the woman glanced around the Hub. She could be seen looking at the fountain, her eyes ghosting across the workstations and looking up towards the higher floors.

"All right! Where's our friend?" Lynnae stated as stood up straight, arms stiff at her side.

The raven-haired beauty next to her crossed her arms over her chest and put one foot forward, trying to look at ease, but instead her eyes seemed to bore into each and every one of them. She tossed her head back and her hair flew up, almost like a Fury in waiting.

Ianto finished stirring their coffees and placed the last cup on a large silver tray. He turned around and then navigated away from the little kitchenette to their unofficial office area. He began handing out the regular coffees to Gwen, Tosh, and Jack. Owen would only want some when he was done with the girl. Jack put his cup down on Gwen's desk as he stood next to it.

"We are working on her. Your other friend, David, is with her and my medical officer. Why don't you just wait right over there?" Jack pointed to the brown upholstered settee between the main door and the autopsy bay.

"What happened to her? Why don't you want us to see her?" Lynnae stepped forward, closing the distance between her and Jack rather quickly. 

Jack looked down on her smaller stature. "You will see her as soon as my doctor is done. Things would run a lot smoother without a bunch of worried friends in his way. Now sit down." His eyes were growing hard.

"Dr. Harper knows what he's doing. Try and not worry. Calm down," Ianto said as he put the tray down on the square coffee table in front of the brown settee. "I brought some coffee." He then indicated the settee, hoping they would sit down. "I understand how concerned you are, but we are doing everything we can."

Jillian regarded Ianto a moment and then quietly sat down on the edge of the settee. She picked up one of the coffee cups and put a little cream into it from the cream and sugar set Ianto had also placed on the tray. She held the cup between her hands, just staring. Lynnae continued to glare at Jack a moment longer and then abruptly broke away and moved over to the settee, not sitting down, but leaning against the wall next to it.

"Just where are you taking care of Elizabeth?" Samantha asked.

"In our medical bay right over there," Ianto said as he pointed to the staircase that led down into the mini-theatre.

Samantha followed where he pointed and then looked at the wall above the opening. A derisive laugh came out of her mouth. "Cold storage? Sounds more like the morgue." Summarily she looked at Ianto. She then shook her head, mumbling something incoherently, and ambled over to the settee. She plopped down onto the settee, dropping her backpack to the floor and grabbed a nearby coffee cup, holding it on her knee, but not drinking.

"IANTO!" a bellow came from Owen down in autopsy. 

Gwen looked up hesitantly and Jack just nodded at Ianto to see what it was. Ianto swiftly moved over to the railing and looked down into the pit. Owen was running around, checking things on the computer monitor on the wall. The group's other friend, David, just sat back on a little stool, holding one of Elizabeth's hands.

"You bellowed?" Ianto said.

Owen looked up at him. Ianto was always impressed with Owen when he went into his doctoring mode. It impressed him how confident he suddenly became throughout, and how much he trusted himself. Also, it was amazing just how focused and brilliant Owen could be then.

"I need you," Owen said.

Ianto raised his left eyebrow. "Pardon me?"

"I need your blood."

"And yet again, pardon?"

Owen heaved out a sigh and gave Ianto an exasperated look. "You have the same blood type as Elizabeth here. She has lost more blood than I can help with. She needs blood. Now. I need to do a transfusion, and you are a match."

Ianto craned his head and looked back at the trio around the settee. Lynnae had finally picked up one of the coffee cups and took a big swig. She grimaced as she swallowed, and then looked at Ianto, concern evident in her blue eyes. Those worried eyes seemed to draw him in, as if in a dream. He turned back to Owen.

"Fine. I can do that. Will we need help?" Ianto gripped the railing, leaning over it.

"Yes, grab someone." Owen darted back over by the instrument area and began to prep a blood bag.

"Do you need help," Samantha asked, suddenly next to Ianto. "I can take the sight of the blood. Those two are better off not seeing it."

"Oi! Who's that?" Owen looked up at Ianto and Samantha.

"Samantha O'Neill. I'm a friend of Elizabeth. Do you need any help?"

"Actually, yes. Do any of you have the same blood type as her? We are going to need more blood than he can safely provide." 

Samantha thought a moment. "I'm not exactly the same type, but my blood type is compatible with hers. Wait a minute! Jillian has the same blood type! Hey! Jillian, get your ass over here."

Jillian took a sip of her coffee and set down the cup on the little table. "Yes?"

"Don't you have the same blood type as Elizabeth? Didn't I figure out everybody's type for my General Bio class?" Samantha began tapping one foot in a rhythmic pattern as she appeared to think things out.

"Yes, you did. I am the same type," Jillian responded. 

"Great! You got two of us, doctor." Samantha took off her black leather coat and began rolling up the sleeves on her purple shirt.

Ianto walked back over by Tosh at her desk and gave her a smile. He undid his tie and took it off, folding it neatly and placed it on the corner of her desk. He then undid his shirt cuffs and exchanged a look with Tosh who smiled back.

"You're doing a good thing, Ianto," Tosh stated as she slipped her glasses back on.

"Thanks."

"Tosh, babe, can you help me down here. I could use your expertise from hanging around me all the time," Owen said over the intercom.

Jack walked by Tosh's desk. "Don't worry about it. Finish those scans, I'll help him." Jack paused a moment by Ianto, touching his upper arm. He gave it a quick squeeze and then walked down into the autopsy bay.

Ianto swore he could still feel the heat of Jack's touch on him, flaring on his arm and through the rest of his body. Ianto turned on his heel and headed for Owen's makeshift triage. He motioned for Samantha and Jillian to follow him. The two women followed him as he descended down into the pit of the autopsy bay.

"Listen, Owen, I can be as pretty as Tosh can be playing nurse. She has something she needs to finish and I know just as much as her, maybe even a bit more than you expect." Jack stood his ground at the base of the stairs.

"Great, bloody great," Owen muttered as he grabbed up the things he would need. "You! Out," Owen said as he pointed at David using his entire arm to point up the other staircase.

"No way, buddy. I am not leaving her side."

"Come on up here, pet. Owen knows what he's doing, trust me, he's helped me before." Gwen stood above them on the railing, shooting David her most optimistic smile, trying to smooth over the possible bumps knowing how bad a Weevil attack could be. "I'll sit up here and wait with you and your other friend. We'll have some coffee and let Dr. Harper do his job." She walked halfway down the set of steps Owen had indicated and held out her hand.

David glared at Gwen and then looked at his friends. Finally he relented and started up the stairs, not touching Gwen. She put her hand on his back as he walked past her and led him up by the settee, the two of them disappearing from sight.

Ianto was brought back to the here and now by the sound of furniture being moved as Owen brought over another stool and put it against the wall and the small side table for instruments. Ianto let out a sigh and moved over, rearranging the instruments so they would not be on the edge of the table where they might be knocked over.

"There are not enough chairs or another stretcher, so we'll have to improvise. You're lucky that's what I'm good at." Owen picked up a blood bag and attached the tubing. "All right, let's saddle up and take care of this hooley."

Ianto sat down on the stool. A quick laugh emitted from Samantha. Ianto turned to her. She looked like she wanted to laugh more, but one look at Elizabeth silenced any further outbursts.

"What's so funny?" Owen asked as he tied off Ianto's arm, sitting down on a stool in front of the Welshman.

"Sorry, really sorry, it just sounded so surreal," Samantha stated as she sat down on the bottom step of the stairs that led into the pit. "We're in the middle of all this... all this shit and you quote a catchphrase from a Jack Jones novel."

"A Jack Jones novel?" Jack queried as he looked at the girls and then at Owen. Jack stepped over and crouched between Ianto and Owen, holding the next thing Owen would need.

"A series of novels written by Jonathon Tiberius," Jillian supplied as she tucked a piece of hair behind her right ear.

"Crap, that's what they are," Owen said.

"Then why do you read them?" Samantha asked.

"Just because I quoted crap does not mean I read it," Owen quipped as he jabbed the needle into Ianto's arm.

Ianto winced as it poked through his skin and he watched with fascination as the red fluid started coursing through the rubber tube and into the blood bag that Jack hung up on the IV stand. Something about that moment seemed so right.

"I hope you don't take it personally then, knowing your patient reads Jack Jones novels voraciously."

"To each their own," Owen stated. "How are you feeling?" he asked Ianto.

"Fine," Ianto replied.

"Good," Owen said as he clamped off and detached the one blood bag and then attached an empty one to the tubing. He opened up the clamp and held Ianto's arm up on his shoulder as more blood coursed into the second bag. "Thanks," Owen muttered.

"Don't worry," Jack said. "When we're done with this and Elizabeth is feeling better, I'll get us all some tea. All of us." Jack made sure to acknowledge the women and then turned back to Ianto and gave him a wink.


	7. Chapter 7

Owen had his legs propped up on his desk, nodding off, and a file folder open across his chest when the computer beeped at him. He opened one eye and glowered at the screen. Letting out a groan, Owen dropped his feet to the floor. Picking up the small clock next to the computer, he struggled to comprehend the time.

It had been a long day, a really long day. After the Weevil had disrupted his game last night, made them chase it down all night and then the whole deal with that group of tourists, he was bloody knackered. It chilled him to know how close he had been to losing the woman that was attacked. He hadn't let on just how much blood loss she had suffered. They should have taken her to A & E, or St. Helen's, but he hadn't thought she would even make it that far. She was stubborn. If she had been conscious he would have asked her if she was Welsh.

"You shouldn't be here," Jack said as he walked through the office area, his shirt open and his braces hanging down at his side. "Why don't you go home?"

"What? Am I cramping your style," Owen snapped back, deigning not to look at Jack.

"Me? Never. Having an audience never stopped me before."

"He's still weak. You can't shag the shit out of him and expect him to work tomorrow," Owen chided. "And no matter what you think, I will not make the coffee for him. I will never make the coffee here like some lost errand boy." Owen chucked the folder onto the desk and slouched down in his chair.

Jack didn't say anything, but Owen could feel him looking his way. Using only his feet, Owen swiveled the chair around until he was looking up at Jack. Jack just stared at him, a bemused look on his face, gripping a teacup in his hand.

"What?"

"Nothing," Jack said and turned back towards his office. "There's some more tea in the kitchen if you want some."

"Why do you have a cup of bloody tea at half past two in the morning?" Owen steepled his fingers in front of him, resting his palms on his chest, glowering at Jack.

"Taking care of a lost errand boy who did a good thing earlier," Jack said as he stopped and looked back at Owen. "And so did you. It was closer than you thought wasn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Owen said as he sat up in his seat, hands gripping the chair arms.

"Right. Well, you should take your own advice and go home." Jack gave Owen a half smile and turned away. "Unless you want to play naked hide and seek in a little bit," Jack continued as he walked into his office.

Owen shuddered and made a mental note to pick up some sanitizing wipes for his desk the next time he was out. He swiveled his chair back around and grabbed the mouse, clicking it and pulling up the internal CCTV cameras. He switched to a view of Jack's office and then quickly minimized the screen. The snogging, and whatever the bloody hell Jack was doing with his tongue didn't bother him. It was… It was something about Ianto and Jack that shook him. Maybe how right they seemed, and how much he missed that closeness with anyone.

He perused the computer screen and pulled up the tests he had run on Miss Elizabeth Murphy. Blood levels seemed good, all other functions seemed to be at par for the amount of blood loss, and she– 

"You bloody piece of shit! I didn't tell you to do a DNA analysis. Damn it Gwen, walking up behind me…" Owen stared at the screen, his mouth hanging open. "This can't be. There's no way she can be a match to any–" 

Owen clicked a couple of more buttons and started re-running the diagnostic on Elizabeth's blood sample. The computer had to be wrong, it just had to be wrong. But what if it wasn't? Well, it didn't look like he was going home anytime tonight. Oh, hell, the settee was comfortable enough, if he even felt like sleeping now.


	8. Chapter 8

Her mind screamed at her to not give up on the blissful state of unconscious sleep, but something seemed wrong. Something was different in the room. Her mind swam, trying to hold on to the last tendrils of sleep, when she hesitantly cracked open one eyelid and let out a groan from the pit of her stomach.

"Come on!" Lynnae flopped over to the side of the bed away from the sunlight. "Who the hell opened the window? Light bad." She buried her head under one of the multitude of pillows they had conned out of the hotel staff.

"You need to wake up," David said from somewhere to her left.

Lynnae let out a grunt and her hand fell out from under the sheets to the floor next to the bed. She began muttering to herself as her hand was the only thing that moved, scrambling along the floor. Suddenly it closed in on something solid, and she partially held it up as David blathered on about some stupid stock or something. She raised the pillow up and peeked out one eye to see what she held up. Lynnae had hoped to grab one of her trusty and solid boots, but instead she had grabbed one of Elizabeth's trainers. She listened intently as David continued to move and speak.

"You don't get it. Sammy does. We are missing a day. I didn't trade any, not a single iota, of a stock yesterday! What the fuck?" She could hear him moving around the other bed in the room.

Concentrating harder than she wanted to at this early hour, Lynnae followed his voice and held the black trainer in her hand waiting. When it seemed like David had finally stopped moving, probably somewhere between the writing desk and the second bed in the room, she let it fly. The shoe came sailing over her prone body on a blind course for its target.

"OW! Head! Bitch!" David grumbled as Lynnae smiled, having heard the wonderful sound of shoe impacting on skin.

She pulled her head up from under its sanctuary in the cool recesses of the pillow. "Serves you right for waking me up when I feel this tired. What the hell time is it?"

"Late enough we missed the first two tours at the National Museum," Samantha said as she walked into the girl's bedroom, drinking down a big glass of water.

"Crap. I really wanted to do that," Lynnae stated as she crawled up onto her knees, still in the bed. She paused a moment and then flipped her body sideways, sitting up in the bed now, the soft sheets nice under her ass. "Water dear?"

"We already ate. Actually ordered room service this morning. There might be some eggs left. God, I am so thirsty and I don't know why." Samantha chucked back the remainder of the water. "I already had two cups of coffee but I think there still might be some left in the pot."

"That's not the fucking point," David snapped. "How did I miss a day? I lost money!"

"Are you bankrupt?" Lynnae peered at him through half-closed eyelids as she let out a huge yawn, her long eyelashes brushing against her cheeks.

"No…"

"Then quit freaking out. You probably found a pub to hole up in and forgot the whole day." Lynnae swung her feet out from under the sheets and blanket, stretching her arms up, cracking her spine. "If we missed the National Museum, what else can we do? What about the Welsh National Assembly Library? I know the girl that runs it." 

"Another library? What is it? A lifeblood to you?" David flopped onto the other bed in the room and sprawled across it, leaning back on his hands.

"Ummmm... yeah! I just got my degree in Library Science you dork!" Lynnae stood up and knocked David's shoed feet off the bed as she walked past and curtly snapped the curtains shut, blocking out the sun. "Much better. You know, learning about things, including the past, wouldn't kill you."

"Nope! It will! I always knew the past would kill me, it's just biding its time to strike." David dropped back down onto the bed. "What about my stocks? I day-trade, that's my life! And according to my computer I did fuck nothing yesterday."

"Maybe you did fuck something yesterday? That could be why you can't remember? She, or he, was so fugly–"

"Okay!" Lynnae cut off Samantha before she could finish her comment. David and Samantha got along swimmingly ninety-eight percent of the time, but when they decided to get on each other's nerves, they had a habit of turning it into World War III with everyone else stuck in between them. And it was always over the littlest, stupidest crap.

"No, no, what the fuck?" David quickly stood up from the bed, on the one side of Lynnae.

"I was just stating the obvious character flaw in front of me," Samantha quipped, coming up on the opposite side of Lynnae.

"Glad you can see character flaws here, unlike in your writing. I can't believe people gush about half of that shit!"

"I am a published author of several books. People know who I am, not some mysterious stock persona."

"Sure, they know who the fuck you are Jonathon Tiberius."

"That's only one series of my books! Excuse me–"

"ALL RIGHT!" Lynnae shoved her hands over both of their mouths, albeit she had to reach to get to David's. "Shut the hell up. What is with you two?"

"Ai dmb'd noew," Samantha mumbled behind Lynnae's hand.

Lynnae moved her hands away from both of them, wiping them on her t-shirt. Sometimes the two of them could be like children, or like brother and sister. She put her hands on her hips and glared between the two of them.

"I don't know," Samantha said. "I just feel really cranky and stuff."

"You sure chowed down on the steak and eggs, way more steak than eggs," David replied as he walked around the two of them.

"Guys! Get out here," Jillian shouted from the other room of the suite.

Lynnae looked from Samantha to David and then all three of them bolted for the main room of their hotel suite. There was something about the pitch of Jillian's voice that shook Lynnae, and she did not like hearing that in any of her friend's voices. In fact, the last time she had heard something like that, Jillian had called to talk when Eve, her little daughter, was sick in the hospital.

Lynnae was the first one through the bedroom door and skidded to a halt in front of Jillian, David and Samantha somewhere behind her. "What's going on?"

"Look at this!" Jillian scooted over to a very worried Elizabeth. She crouched down in front of Elizabeth who was sitting on the edge of the settee. Jillian put one hand on top of Elizabeth's shaking hands. "Come on Beth, they need to see it."

Elizabeth slowly shook her head yes. Lynnae's heart wanted to break. Something was going on and Elizabeth was trying to keep from crying. Her friends were just like family to her, and Lynnae would do anything to protect them from heartbreak. She watched as Jillian still kept her one hand over Elizabeth's and with her other hand, gently pulled down the left shoulder of Elizabeth's robe.

"Oh what the fuck!" David turned his head away and then quickly snapped it back. "What the fuck happened?"

"We don't know," Jillian sternly replied. There was hardness to her voice. Lynnae really, really hated hearing that in Jillian's voice. "Beth went to shower and she was barely awake when she went into the bathroom, but… but when she took off her clothes–"

"She was still wearing her clothes?" Lynnae asked.

"Yes."

"But Beth, you don't do that. You don't fall asleep in your clothes."

"I know," Elizabeth sputtered out, trying to not cry.

Samantha walked around Jillian and leaned over Beth's shoulder. "These are sutures, really good sutures, and some stitches, but it looks like they should be dissolvable stitches. Still looks very tender. Definitely very recent." Samantha went to put her left arm up over her head as she did when she was thinking of something. The girl had very many thinking ticks.

Lynnae quickly looked at Samantha as she let out a small intake of breath and grabbed her upper left arm. "What is it," Lynnae asked.

"I don't know, it feels like…" Samantha rolled up the sleeve on her long-sleeved black t-shirt, and gaped at her arm. "Excuse me! Who was thirsty last night? That explains the steak! Iron loss!"

"Whoa! Explain," Lynnae stated.

Samantha showed off her arm and the bruise that had developed, along with a small puncture mark. "Somebody felt like testing out their vampire side? Someone took my blood."

"And me without my trusty stake," Lynnae quipped. 

There was a moment hesitation before the other three pulled up their shirtsleeves and were checking out their arms. It was then that Lynnae realized she was still wearing most of her street clothes. Well, her trousers and her t-shirt.

"Shit yeah! I'm clean," David said, relief in his voice.

"So am I," Lynnae replied.

"I'm not," Jillian said as she showed them her right arm and the tiny bruise that had formed. She let the sleeve on her brown dress fall. "What did this?"

"I'm not sure," Lynnae said as she crossed her arms across her chest. She adjusted the weight on her feet as she began to ruminate over what had happened. It was not weird for them to do unusual stuff, they had been the ones to chase down ghost stories on their college campus, but where none of them seemed to remember? That was rather disturbing.

Jillian snapped her fingers. "A & E! If someone stitched up Beth, then it was probably A & E, the local hospital! They should have a record of what happened and be able to fill in the blanks. I hope."

"Sounds like a plan," Lynnae said.

"Great, let's saddle up and take care of this hooley," David stated as he looked directly at Samantha.

Samantha stuck her tongue out at David and then turned back to Elizabeth. "Okay, you took the bandage off, I would assume?"

"Yes," Elizabeth said meekly.

"We should re-cover it so it's not open to the air yet, and then just get you a whore's bath and get dressed. Lynnae will shower quickly and get dressed, and we'll all go." Samantha headed for the bedroom and their luggage. "Damn it! I don't have any bandages that big with me."

"Shock! Gasp! Holy shit!" David chuckled as he pulled on his brown boots across the room.

"Never mind, I'll run downstairs to the lobby and get one," Lynnae said as she was already halfway out the main door to their suite. Strange things seemed to always be attracted their group of friends, but lately things seemed to be getting odder and odder.


	9. Chapter 9

"You want us to follow them? How do you expect us to follow them?" Tosh ripped her red frame glasses off her face and stood with her hands on her hips, crumpling some papers she had already been carrying. She had been the last one in to the conference room for Owen's impromptu team meeting and caught the tail end of his first comment. Apparently he wanted them to follow the group of tourists from yesterday.

"Just why do you think we need to watch them," Jack asked from his chair at the head of the table.

Tosh exchanged a look with Jack, wondering why he did not tell the others that two of the tourists could see through the perception filter. In fact, the only reason she knew was that she had been monitoring all four of them on CCTV. Before she knew it, the girl had fallen through the filter onto the slab, and onto Jack. Tosh had just gotten a fix on the Weevil in the outer hallways heading for the tourist office when she heard Jack's grunt and then the pinging of a small camera falling to the catwalk. Tosh still had the camera remains and its electronic card in a drawer in her desk. She turned her attention back to Owen.

"I can't tell you, but something doesn't seem right," Owen stated, fingers tapping on the back of his chair as he stood behind it at the other end of the conference room table, in front of the flat-screen monitor on the wall.

"Frankly, Owen, that doesn't sound like a good excuse," Jack said as he put his hands flat on the table in front of him. He looked past Ianto sitting at his right and nodded at Tosh. "But, if you have a need, then Tosh can track their movements on CCTV for a day or two."

Tosh opened her mouth to protest, but stopped as Jack shot her a look. She cocked her head to the side, her black hair falling down her shoulder. She recognized that look in Jack's eyes. Someone was hiding something. She quickly looked to Owen.

"Sure, I can do that. In fact I can set up a programme right now, then I can still get my other scans done." Tosh put the papers she had been carrying down on the table next to Ianto.

"That'd be great, Tosh," Owen said. "But we need to get close to them." Owen looked down at the file folder in front of him on the table, and shuffled a couple of the papers inside it around. It definitely looked like he was the one hiding something. "We need to get really close to them. I need DNA samples from all of them, especially Elizabeth, Jillian and Samantha."

"What? Why, Owen? What's going on," Gwen asked. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned back in her chair on Jack's left.

"It's just a theory I have, but I need to get more DNA samples from them." Owen did not look up at any of them.

"We've already retconned them. How do you expect to do that?" Ianto leaned forward in his chair staring at Owen.

"Shit! I don't know! Okay! You happy, Teaboy?" Owen snatched up the papers and clenched them in his fist.

It was then that Tosh noticed that Owen was still wearing the same clothes as the day before. Tosh stepped forward, wanting to help Owen. Something was bothering him. He usually didn't snap that badly, not with barely any provocation. There was an aura about him today. He seemed lost for once. 

He hadn't seemed that shaken in years, well, that was until recently when he fell in love with Diane. A female pilot from 1952 was whom he ended up giving his body and soul to. Then Diane left him. She got into her plane and let the Rift take her back in front of his eyes. She understood how he had felt though, her _love_ for Tommy was no different.

"Why won't you tell us, Owen?" Gwen leaned forward also, her hands on the table in front of her. "What's going on?"

Owen gathered up the papers in front of him, staring at them. Finally he popped his head up. "I would rather not say yet. It's a theory I have, but I don't know if it's right. If I'm wrong… But if I'm right, the implications are bloody unbelievable."

Jack tapped his index and middle finger against his lips. Finally he spoke. "Are they dangerous to us? Life and death to anyone?"

"No. Possibly life-changing but not a danger," Owen stated.

"Fine then," Jack said as he stood up. "Tosh creates the programme and follows them, you do the research, Ianto can help if he has the time, and you figure out how to get their DNA despite the fact that we have already retconned them and it might seem rude to just go and grab it from them."

Tosh looked down at the floor, suddenly paying a lot of attention to the tips of her black pumps. She then looked up at Owen with just her eyes. "I might have an idea," Tosh supplied.

"I really don't know, Tosh, I've been racking my brain all night–"

"Fine. If you don't want my suggestion, I'll be at my desk." Tosh grabbed up her files from the table, turned and slipped her glasses back on, feeling a little crestfallen that Owen hadn't even wanted to hear her theory.

"Sorry! Tosh, what is it?" Owen sat down in the chair at the other end of the conference table.

"Well," Tosh stated as she turned back to them, gripping the file folders in front of her like a schoolgirl with a secret. "If we are following them, then all we need to do is slip a certain pathogen into their food. Once they get back to the hotel, they'll think they have food poisoning and call Reception for the hotel's doctor or a number for anyone else to call." 

"I reroute all calls from their room to us here. Then we send Owen in as the house doctor, and it's up to you to make up some lie to get the DNA, and while you are there, give them the anti-pathogen and leave." Tosh looked at the group very smugly.

Ianto stood up and walked behind her, adjusting his dark blue suit jacket over his blue shirt. "Sometimes, Tosh, you can be quite scary," he said.

"Right. Well, it looks like you have your plan," Jack said to Owen as he stood up and tugged down his black waistcoat. He started to follow Ianto out of the conference room. "Once you have figured out what pathogen you are using, we'll send Ianto and Gwen out to get it into their system. Until then, don't do anything unnecessary." Jack exited and Tosh could swear she saw his hand graze along Ianto's arse, and then come up to his back, staying there. She smiled and turned back to Owen.

"Okay, I'm going to compile all the info we got on them yesterday and leave it on your desk Owen," Gwen said as she quickly got up and exited the conference room. They could hear her trainers on the metal steps leading up to the workstations.

Tosh stood there a moment looking at Owen, a small smile on her face. Finally he looked up at her, his eyes looking even darker than ever. Her smile quickly faded. Whatever was going on truly worried Owen, and that frightened her. 

"Thanks for the help, Tosh."

"No problem," she replied. "Listen, if you need to talk…"

"I probably will, before this is figured out. Thanks."

"Yeah. Just… Owen, don't lose yourself in this, whatever it is. We can help you figure it out." Tosh paused a moment and then left the conference room, closing the door behind her.


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm sorry, honey. I'll talk to you later, I promise. I cross my heart and seal it with a kiss," Jillian said into her mobile. She made a kiss sound and her heart saddened as she heard the disconnect. She tucked the mobile back into her rather large black bag. Jillian then pulled out a hair tie and put her hair up in a ponytail. Letting out a sigh, she plucked a pair of sunglasses from the massive bag and quickly covered her eyes.

Jillian crossed her arms across her chest as David sauntered over, hands tucked half into the pockets of his jeans. He leaned against the outer wall of the hospital, staying out of the way of personnel moving at their own determined pace. He cocked his head down and looked at Jillian.

"How's Eve?" David raised his eyebrows at her.

Jillian found herself just staring at the simple shadowy design on David's blue t-shirt. "She was upset with me. Apparently I forgot what I promised her yesterday." She continued to stare at David's shirt, and nowhere else. "I can't remember ever calling her yesterday. I cannot remember talking to my own daughter."

"That's what I mean! Lynnae didn't want me to say anything so I didn't upset Beth more than she is. But, what the fuck? We are missing a day! How is that possible that none of us can remember yesterday?" David jerked on his black leather coat and plopped back against the hospital wall.

Snapping out of her reverie, Jillian peered at David. "Even when away, I have always called Eve every day. I have never let a day pass without talking to my daughter. Never! And I remember everything I have ever told her," Jillian buried her head into her chest and studied a crack in the sidewalk. She couldn't believe that she had broken her promise to her daughter. Even on the day she was born, and Jillian knew it would always be the two of them, she promised her that not a day would go by that she would not tell her she loved her. Even if it was only her that forgot, it left an empty space in her soul.

David sidestepped over to Jillian. "The day is gone forever, but you'll still talk to her, and probably promise her all kinds of weird stuff only a mom can swear to. Once we find out about Beth, we'll know where to start." David put his hand over Jillian's. "Speaking of them," David stated as he pulled away from Jillian and found his place holding up the hospital wall again. "What's up?"

Jillian's head snapped up and she stared at the trio of girls as they wound their way through people from A & E's reception. She dropped her hands to her side and met the girls as they came into the small bit of shadow Jillian and David had found. She placed her hand on Elizabeth's uninjured shoulder and gave her a small smile.

"So? What did they say," Jillian asked. Samantha and Lynnae exchanged a look that scared Jillian. "Sam? What is it?" When Sam did not readily answer, Jillian turned on Lynnae. "Things have really been weird, Lynnae. I don't need you guys holding back on me, what is going on?"

Lynnae silently maneuvered between Jillian and Elizabeth. She sat Elizabeth down on a nearby bench, putting Elizabeth's bag and her small brown bag down next to the ashen-faced girl.

"They have no record of her," Samantha said quietly.

"What?" David pushed himself off the wall and stood next to the two girls.

"They have no record of Beth being here yesterday." Samantha ran her hand through her shoulder length hair. "They can find no record of Beth being in any hospital in the country our entire trip."

"Because she fucking wasn't," David interjected.

"Apparently not even yesterday," Lynnae stated as she joined the group.

"So what do we do now," Jillian asked. She took off the sunglasses and twirled them in her hand. She glanced over at Elizabeth and her heart sank at how scared the woman seemed to be. Hell, she would be terrified if it had looked like she was attacked and she, nor anyone she knew, had any recollection of it. Hell, she was terrified for what seemed to be happening to all of them.

"Now, we start at the end," Lynnae said as she made a stance. "We know what has happened, so we try to figure out what happened yesterday and how we got to this point." Lynnae snapped her wire frame glasses off her face and cleaned them on the cuff of her blue shirt. None of them had time to really get ready, or in Lynnae's case, to get their contacts in, after they saw what had happened to Elizabeth.

"Just fucking great," David mumbled. "I really don't like this."

"Do you think any of us do," Samantha quipped. She readjusted the black backpack she always carried with her.

"Let's get Elizabeth back to the hotel so she can rest, and then we can regroup," Lynnae said as she turned on her boot heels and walked back to Elizabeth slumping on the bench.

"What about the jab in your arm?" David queried as he hurried around Lynnae to Elizabeth. He held out his hands and Elizabeth meekly took them. David then pulled her up and held her tight to his side, his right arm snaking under her arms, supporting her. She looked lost in her oversized Northeastern Illinois University sweatshirt.

"My iron is low, and– well basically it looks like I donated blood or something." Samantha came up on the other side of Elizabeth. 

"Where are we going," Elizabeth quietly asked.

"Back to the hotel, so you can rest," Jillian said as she snatched up Elizabeth's bag and dropped it into her own.

"I don't want to go back to the hotel and be cooped up there all day," Elizabeth whined.

"They said it looked like you had major blood loss, and your body is still recuperating," Samantha supplied.

"How about we stop for a bite to eat," Jillian supplied. "The food should help Elizabeth and the rest of us still recuperating, and then she can enjoy the sights a little bit without exerting herself?"

"Great, where to?" Lynnae asked as she grabbed her small bag and tucked the strap around her left wrist.

"There was a café, almost a pub, which we passed the other day. It looked nice," Elizabeth offered as she put her arm around David's waist and leaned against him.

"That sounds great, really great," Jillian said. "Wait, if it was that one we saw heading for the show then it's right near the hotel so it's not out of our way." She smiled hopefully at her friends, burying the worries she had while talking to her daughter. When something affected your family, you learned how to do more than you ever thought you could. This group of friends was her family, too.

Lynnae made her way through the people, David and Samantha book ending and protecting Elizabeth. Jillian caught up to her and matched her stride despite the fact that Lynnae was wearing boots and Jillian had grabbed the first pair of shoes she saw, her brown pumps.

"Weren't we planning on going to the Wales Millennium Centre yesterday?" Jillian looked at Lynnae and raised an eyebrow.

"You're right," Lynnae said. "After we get Elizabeth settled back at the hotel, we can go and check it out, see if anything clicks." 

Jillian looked back at Elizabeth and gave her another smile, nodding. They would make it through this. When it came to weird stuff like this, especially where each other was concerned, they were survivors.


	11. Chapter 11

"Enjoying your date?" Jack asked. 

Gwen groaned, glad no one else was around. She adjusted her tight black top and then held down the minute earpiece she wore. "Jack, you are so lucky no one else is in the loo with me. They would think I was mad, talking to myself."

"I knew that, we can see you." She swore she could hear the laughter in Jack's voice. "So, whatcha doing? Anything fun?"

"In the bathroom, Jack? What fun could I be having in the bathroom?"

"Well, since I saw you go in there alone–"

"No, Jack, I am not you." She looked in the mirror and automatically checked her teeth for any food and then tucked back her hair.

"Never underestimate the bathroom. Anyway, how are things going?" 

Gwen rolled her eyes and leaned her hands against the counter. "They don't seem to notice us. When I am done here, I am going to negotiate a way into the kitchen and get the viral agent into their food."

"You do that." There was a pause as she heard Tosh mutter something to Jack. "Someone's headed your way. We'll be watching." 

She could hear the click over the earpiece and pushed herself off the counter by the sink as the door to the loo opened. One of the tourists they were watching walked in: Samantha, if she remembered correctly. She was the one who could also see the invisible lift and had tried to help Jack and Lynnae yesterday. Gwen curtly smiled at Samantha as she stepped back from the counter and picked up her bag, putting it over her shoulder.

She watched as Samantha grabbed a towel from the dispenser and wet it under the cold tap and dabbed at her face, hunched over. Samantha looked up and caught Gwen's eyes in the mirror. She weakly smiled at Gwen and then a look of confusion came over her face. Gwen held her bag tight to her side and went to leave.

"Excuse me," Samantha said, rolling up the sleeves on her black t-shirt. "Do I know you?"

"No, I don't think so," Gwen responded.

"Are you sure? You look so familiar. I feel like I know you."

"Must be someone else. Sorry," Gwen stated as she exited the loo. In the little hallway to the toilets she let out a breath. Samantha should not be recognizing her, or any of them since they retconned them. It was probably just her imagination.

Gwen hurried down the hall and stopped by the door to the kitchen. She looked in the little window in the swinging door and saw only the cook and another person in the restaurant's kitchen. She took a deep breath and then pushed open the swinging door and strode in.

"Excuse me, mate, you can't be in here," the non-cook said, barely looking up.

"Yeah, sorry, _mate_. Torchwood," Gwen stated as she made sure the door closed behind her and she had stepped fully into the kitchen. This type of stuff was bad enough normally, but having to lie like this was really hard. "We've gotten a couple reports of strange things happening in this kitchen. I need you to let me check it out."

"Or else what? Just who the bloody hell is Torchwood?" the guy said as he threw down his towel on the counter.

"If you don't know, that's good for you. Now if you would just step aside, I will be done in no time at all." She reached into her bag and held the small glass vial in her palm.

"Oh, come on–" the guy started to protest but was stopped by the cook.

"What do you need to check? I know everything is good in my kitchen." The cook finished plating the last salad and stepped back, looking defiant.

"Right. We've gotten reports of people ingesting strange substances and then getting sick. Perhaps a mutation passing through in the food, or the wrong kind of meat being given out." Gwen pulled out the vial and held it ready, her other hand on the side of her hip.

"I know there is nothing like that here, but who am I to stop Torchwood," the cook said as they tugged back on the other person. "You aren't going to ruin the food right before the dinner rush are you?"

"No, no, no. I just need to put a couple of drops of this substance on the food to check it out. If the food is non-biotic in nature it will change colour, otherwise… all good." She really wondered at what point had she got so used to lying. It fell out of her mouth really convincingly. She had no clue what she had said about biotic or what, but as long as she pretended to believe it, they would.

"Fine, hurry up," the cook replied, moving away from the food but watching Gwen intently.

"Thank you. I'll just put some on the plated food so as not to ruin the other pots," she stated as she unscrewed the vial top. She knew what Ianto and she had ordered, but was a little unsure of what the tourists had decided on all together. She decided to put a dash of the viral agent on most of the plates. Owen had said it would wear off in about eight hours if the anti-agent didn't work. She felt sorry for the other patrons, but at least other than the tourists and Ianto and herself, there were only two other couples in the restaurant.

Gwen put a dash on each order of potatoes, and vegetables, onto each salad, and over each piece of meat. She really hoped Tosh and Owen's idea worked. She even put a dash on the potatoes of Ianto's plate, and the vegetables on her plate so it wouldn't look suspicious. She leaned back and pretended to be inspecting the food for any changes. Seeing none she stood up and headed for the door to the kitchen.

"Oi! Is that it?" the cook called out.

"Perfectly fine, sorry for the interruption," Gwen said over her shoulder as she exited the door.

"Bloody Torchwood," she heard the cook mutter. She made a mental note to tell Ianto to check on the cook's background when they got back to the Hub later.

When she got back to the table she was sharing with Ianto on their "date," as Jack was calling it, she saw Samantha, with her group of friends, staring at her as she sat down. She grabbed the napkin Ianto held out for her and put it in her lap. After putting her bag down, she looked back up; Samantha was back to talking with her friends.

Ianto leaned in to her. "So, how did everything go?"

"Great, not a problem. You might not want to eat your potatoes. I don't know how much of an anti-agent Owen has," Gwen replied as she took a sip of her ale. They had to keep up appearances. She rubbed her hands against the legs of her jeans.

"Did you run into Samantha in the loo?"

"Why do you ask that?" Gwen said as she put a hand over Ianto's on top of the table.

"Unless she too, was poisoning the food, I assumed that's where she went," Ianto replied.

"Right. She did. Came in right after I was done talking to Jack." 

Ianto merely raised an eyebrow at this.

"He wanted to know how our date was going, and then started talking to me about how much fun can be had in a toilet." She took a breath. "Anyway, Samantha stopped me and asked if she knew me."

"And you said no, of course?"

She looked at Ianto like he was a blazing idiot. "Yes, Ianto, of course I did," she said, exasperated.

"Good." He took a sip of his red wine, and then went back to holding hands with Gwen. "Because Lynnae kept staring at me while you were gone. I thought she was going to leave marks in the back of my head, she was staring that much."

She leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek, hovering near his ear. "Great, because Lynnae and Samantha are both talking and looking this way."

"Lovely. And you do know that Jack is going to be probably getting off on this later," Ianto replied as she sat back down, her hand trailing along his cheekbone.

"What doesn't Jack fancy," she asked as the waitress brought their plates.

"I heard that," they both faintly heard through their earpieces. They exchanged a grin with each other.

"Remember now, don't touch those potatoes, Ianto," Gwen said as she tucked into her meat. She picked at it, watching the interaction between the group of friends they were watching.

Ianto had picked up the group outside of A & E and then proceeded to find out what questions they had asked, and to pull their files that were started that day. He then picked up Gwen and they went on their hot date. She marvelled at how much they seemed to laugh, and enjoy each other's company. Lynnae sat at the head of the square table, while David and Samantha seemed to have many in-jokes, teasing each other. Samantha and Jillian kept watching over Elizabeth, who every so often would gingerly touch her left shoulder. She could see archetypes of people she knew in each of them, and yet what she could not see was why they seemed to scare Owen so much.


	12. Chapter 12

Lynnae and Samantha walked ahead of the other three, walking back to the hotel. Samantha hurried along, her backpack thumping against her as she held on to just the one strap over her shoulder. They had decided to walk since the restaurant was so close to the hotel, and it was felt that Elizabeth could use the nice air outside. David and Jillian flanked her on either side, helping her along.

"I swear that couple looked familiar!" Samantha nodded to the doorman as he held open the door to the hotel. She scurried in after Lynnae and then turned around, waiting for the other three. Once they had gotten inside, she and Lynnae headed for the lift. "I mean come on! Even you said they looked familiar."

"I know, but I can't quite place them," Lynnae stated as she held open the lift so they could all pile in.

"Still going on about that couple? All I can say is lucky bastard. You know he's getting some tonight," David said as he leaned back against the farthest wall of the lift. 

"Oh, please, David, I'm already not feeling well," Elizabeth said, leaning on Jillian for support.

Samantha moved next to Elizabeth and felt for a fever and looked at her. "Straight to your PJs when we get upstairs," she said to Elizabeth. She then turned to the rest of the group. "I don't know why, but it keeps nagging at the base of my brain."

"Don't make your brain any worse than it already is," David quipped.

"Maybe they were at a book signing or something," Lynnae interjected.

"But you recognize them too," Samantha said.

"I've been with you at some of your book signings."

"When was the last book signing you did in England?" Elizabeth looked at them, trying to be part of the conversation.

"Oh, gosh, was that for _The Fortune-Teller's Odyssey_?" Samantha leaned back on one hip and thought about it, stuffing her hands into her black jeans. She smirked as she tried to think about it.

"Yes. The last time you were in the United Kingdom was promoting _The Fortune-Teller's Odyssey_. That would have been last September," Jillian filled in.

"That was eight months ago! Are you telling me some couple you may have met eight months ago is freaking the shit out of you?"

"Maybe," Samantha replied. She shrugged her shoulders. "You meet a lot of people on book tours."

"Definitely," Lynnae stated, studying the numbers as they ascended one by one.

"What about the research trip," Elizabeth tossed in. She looked pained, but she kept trying to get into the conversation.

"That was the year before," Jillian stated matter-of-factly. "You were over here alone. None of us would know who you saw while doing your research for _Fortune Teller_."

"I don't think it's from then." Samantha shook her head as the lift stopped on their floor and a wave of nausea hit her. She assumed it was from the ascent and sudden stop of the lift. "It's just– there's something familiar about them but I can't place it. Almost like, like it was more recent."

The lift opened and David helped Elizabeth out, walking backwards, holding her hands in his. He continued walking that way down the hallway towards their suite when he suddenly tumbled back and his legs flew up in the air as he fell backwards. His feet came crashing down as his legs tented themselves at his knees.

"What the fuck was that," David cried out as he struggled to get up. He pushed himself up and stumbled forward two steps as he got upright again.

The girls looked down at David's feet. Samantha tried not to laugh. It was wrong, he could have gotten hurt. David was damn lucky he hadn't bashed his head against the wall or done a complete somersault, or then again did cartwheels down the fire escape. She pursed her lips, holding back the laughter, but then she heard Lynnae's feminine guffaw and Samantha lost it. All at once all four girls were laughing. Samantha was laughing so hard, she had to hold onto the wall to keep from collapsing.

"Not fucking funny! Who leaves a teacup in the hallway." David raised his foot to kick the cup and then took a look and saw the serving set on the floor outside the room. He looked down the hallway and saw another tea set outside another room. "For fuck's sake, tea time!"

It wasn't that funny, but after the strange day they had been having, it was just the release they needed. David shoved the cup to the side of the hallway with his foot and then glared at the girls. None of them stopped laughing.

"Hee-hee," Elizabeth laughed. It was good to hear her laugh. "Hee-hee-he- uh–oh." Elizabeth clutched at her stomach. "Guys, I don't feel so good."

Samantha took Elizabeth's hand and felt how clammy it seemed. "We need to get you lying down now," Samantha stated as she fumbled for her room key.

Jillian whipped out her room key first and slid the card through the reader and exhaled as the light flashed green. She grabbed the doorknob and Jillian opened it, holding the door open as the others trooped into the anteroom of their suite. Lynnae tossed her bag into her bedroom as David took Elizabeth from Samantha's hands and led her into the bedroom she shared with Jillian.

"Get her shoes off and get her laying down. I'll grab a cool cloth," Samantha commanded as she put her backpack down by the end of the settee. She could feel the door still open behind her and turned around to see Jillian holding on to the side of the door, leaning onto it.

The woman looked a little green. "I am so glad she said something," Jillian almost whispered. "I have been feeling horrible for the last couple of minutes."

"Wait. What?" Samantha hurried over to Jillian and took her arm, letting the door close behind them. "Sit down and relax." She guided Jillian down onto the settee in the main room of the suite. "Where does it hurt?"

"Um, my stomach is cramping, uh, like crazy." Jillian closed her eyes tight as it looked like a wave of pain washed over her. "I feel nauseous, like I might be projectile vomiting something very soon." Jillian closed her mouth and swallowed, her eyes still closed.

Samantha whipped off her black leather coat, flinging it over a random chair; she didn't care where it flew right now. She held her wrist up to the side of Jillian's head and felt for a fever. So far there was nothing. That was a good start. Samantha suddenly closed her eyes a moment as she felt a sudden quick rise of bile come up her throat. She pulled out all her stubbornness and squashed it back down.

"Okay, just breathe. Lynnae." Samantha looked over her shoulder at Lynnae, who was intently looking at the two of them. "Get a cool, damp cloth and take that to Beth. I'll take care of Jillian."

"Got it," Lynnae said as she stood up. She pulled down her skirt, and hurried off to the toilet.

"Okay, tell me how it feels," Samantha asked Jillian as she turned her attention wholeheartedly towards the younger woman.

"It feels like some troll is standing inside my gut and is stabbing my intestines with an ice pick. That and the rolling nausea and the feeling that… oh, God…." Jillian opened her eyes and it seemed like they couldn't focus on any one thing.

Samantha put her hand on Jillian's back as she sat down next to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lynnae head towards Elizabeth's bedroom with the rag and some water. Samantha pushed Jillian gently forward, putting Jillian's head in between her legs. Jillian's ponytail fell forward, tickling Samantha's knee.

"Just relax. You are strong. Just breathe, nice and even." Samantha automatically began rubbing Jillian's back, trying to be comforting.

"SAM!" Samantha's head snapped up as Lynnae dashed into the main room from the bedroom. "You had better check on the two of them!"

Just then Jillian's hands flew up to her mouth and she made a choking sound. Jillian jumped up and then bolted for the toilet. As soon as she hit the loo, retching sounds could be heard from the open door. Samantha was on auto-pilot as she headed in to help Jillian, when Lynnae tugged on her elbow. Samantha looked at the woman.

"I need you in there. When I went in, David had gotten Beth down on the bed, but then he just sat down in the chair by the desk and says he can barely move. His stomach is killing him." Lynnae started dragging Samantha towards the bedroom.

Samantha's stomach seemed to contract itself around an invisible boulder. She refused to acknowledge it. Her friends needed her help. "Right, what about you," Samantha asked, stopping at the bedroom door. 

"I have some nausea, but I'll be okay. I refuse to throw up. I hate throwing up and will fight my body every step of the way. You?"

"Same. Thought I was going to puke a minute ago, but they need me."

"Good. I'll watch Jillian in the bathroom from the safety of the room. Go." Lynnae shoved Samantha into the room, making her stomach flip-flop.

Samantha plodded into the room. David was sprawled out in the leather office chair the hotel provided for the desks. The back of the chair was against the desk and he was sprawled in the chair so his head was back against the desktop. Elizabeth was curled up on her right side, clutching her stomach. Samantha put her hand up and leaned against the wall.

"How are you guys?"

Elizabeth moaned, her back to Samantha. David slowly moved his head towards Samantha, and shot her a nasty look.

"Fucking great. Let's go drinking," David harrumphed out.

"Oh, same cranky ass as usual," Samantha quipped as she pushed off from the wall and walked over to David. She put her hand against his forehead.

"It's my stomach not my fucking head," David responded in a weak voice. ‘"I feel crappier than that last celebratory binge I had when Hefferman-Sloane tried to steal my clients and I beat them!" David had raised his head up and then let it fall back, coughing.

"No fever, that's good," Samantha stated as she sat back down on the end of Elizabeth's bed. 

She put her hand down on Elizabeth's feet. Elizabeth let out a groan and rolled in the bed a little. Samantha looked at David and Elizabeth, and thought of Jillian, her and Lynnae. Something had gotten all of them suddenly sick, but what could do this? She thought back on the lack of fevers, sudden cramping, all the symptoms.

"Food poisoning. It could be food poisoning," Samantha said rather excitedly.

"Shit. Last time we let her pick the restaurant," David huffed out as he put his hands over his stomach, clenching them.

"Stop it," Elizabeth meekly said. "Oh, God," she muttered and started coughing.

Samantha jumped up and grabbed the small wastebasket from next to the desk. She ran over and held it by the bed, her other hand on the back of Elizabeth's head. She guided the woman's head off the bed and over the wastebasket, just in time for her to puke straight into the trash.

"Oh, that is the single most disgusting thing I have ever seen," Lynnae said from the doorway.

"Then don't look," Samantha retorted, trying to keep her own stomach in its place.

"Jillian just puked twice," Lynnae stated, holding onto the doorframe for support. She had a pallor to her, but seemed to be persevering at not giving into throwing up herself.

"Is she still in the bathroom?" David hurriedly said.

"No, she's lying on the settee," Lynnae replied.

"Good!" David jumped up and bolted past Lynnae, shoving her out of the way, knocking her to the spare bed.

"Oof! No problem." Lynnae gingerly sat up on the bed. "Ohhhh…. I think we need a doctor."

"Yeah, except all the doctors we saw today think we're insane," Samantha replied as she guided Elizabeth's head back onto the bed and against the soft pillows. "I'm going to leave the can right here," she said to Elizabeth and then walked around the bed and sat down next to Lynnae on the other bed. She automatically put a hand over her stomach and blanched.

"I'll call Reception. They should have a house doctor or someone they can recommend." Lynnae slowly pushed herself up from the bed, wavering a moment before she headed for the main room.

"How come you don't seem sick," Samantha asked, irritated.

"You know me, I don't usually get sick," Lynnae replied. She turned back to Samantha. "But I am feeling this. The fact that I have not reached into my own body and ripped out my stomach is a good thing."

Samantha fell back onto the bed and let out a groan. "Call them."


	13. Chapter 13

Owen adjusted his glasses and changed his grip on the little black doctor's bag to a lighter one. He put his finger under his collar and loosened the tie a smidge. He then smoothed out his suit jacket so the tazer was well concealed. He patted down the black jacket and his deep blue shirt. It had been a while since he wore a suit.

"Okay, Owen, I will be listening in through your Bluetooth in case anything happens." 

Owen smiled as he listened to Tosh talking to him over the communications. "You think I should have a safety word, Tosh? In case it gets too rough?"

"Just go," Tosh said sternly, but he swore he could hear the smile in her voice. She always had so much patience with him, it was really amazing how much patience she had.

Owen leaned forward and depressed the doorbell to the suite. That had been bloody amazing when Torchwood found out what hotel the group of tourists was staying at. How could a group of young adults afford the Royal Park Plaza, much less a suite on one of the top floors? Although, a little digging into their files proved that they weren't a group of slackers.

Gwen had really done her research this time. Samantha O'Neill was a published author, well received by the public. She had even done a book tour through England, Scotland and Wales last year. That explained how she knew about the Jack Jones novels. Writers seemed to know other writers. Lynnae Wolski was a graduate student in Library Science or some other dusty thing. She had a couple of good research papers credited to her name.

David Ortiz traded stocks, pretty straight job for him. Although he didn't look quite like an Ortiz. He looked more Caucasian. Probably took after his mother. The man was lucky and knew his stuff. He had stayed afloat during all the economic problems as of late. He also apparently spent a lot on electronics. 

Jillian Marsh was a retail manager, but she was top in her game. She was lauded in a recent business article in a local U.S. paper about how she had cut costs and yet her employees would do anything for her. She also had a five year-old daughter named Eve, but no husband. Elizabeth Murphy was still an enigma. Everything said she had family in Chicago, she had lived there her entire life and had just finished graduate school with a teaching degree for primary grades. She had no connections to Wales, Cardiff, or Torchwood. Yet her blood told a different story.

Owen plastered on a benevolent smile as the door was opened and Lynnae stood there gripping the knob tightly. He cleared his throat and held the doctor's bag in front of him. She seemed to be looking at him intensely.

"The doctor, I presume? Reception said you were on your way up. Come in," Lynnae said as she stepped back. She rested her head against the doorframe.

Owen felt a little sorry for the ruse and giving them the viral agent. Lynnae looked like death. But, it was a good plan; he had to give that to Tosh. He stepped into the room and was assailed by the stench of vomit. Samantha walked right past him with the trash, heading for the bathroom.

"Oh, thank God, the doctor is finally here," Samantha curtly said as she disappeared into the toilet. Owen could hear flushing and then water rinsing.

"What seems to be the problem?" Owen asked as he set the bag down on the breakfast table, and opened it up, pulling out his stethoscope.

"As I told your service," Lynnae said as she headed for one of the bedrooms, "I think we got food poisoning or something. And one of our friends was already not in the best shape. We want you to check her out first." Lynnae pointed inside the bedroom. 

Owen grabbed up the doctor's bag and strode past Lynnae into the bedroom and saw Jillian and Elizabeth both lying in their own bed. Elizabeth was curled up almost in the foetal position on her side while Jillian was lying on her back, letting out deep breaths every so often.

"Which one did you want me to look at first?" Owen asked. 

"Elizabeth. The one on the bed by the window," Lynnae supplied as she followed Owen into the bedroom.

Elizabeth let out a little moan as she heard her name. Owen wondered just how much of the stuff Gwen had put into their food as he glanced at Jillian. He pulled over the office chair and moved the puked in trashcan to the side. That was one thing he could do without as a doctor, and at Torchwood, the smells. 

Sitting down he took Elizabeth's left hand in his. "Hi, Elizabeth, I'm Dr. Harper. Can you tell me where it hurts?"

The woman did not answer for a moment. "My tummy is killing me, and that is making my shoulder hurt even more. I want to stop barfing."

"Okay, Elizabeth, I need you to sit up for me. Just for a minute now." Owen put the stethoscope around his neck and opened the black bag next to him as Elizabeth glared at him. He felt an icy finger swipe through his stomach as he looked at her eyes. Those eyes… he looked at a pair just like them nearly every day. "Come on now," he said encouragingly.

Lynnae sat down next to Elizabeth and helped her sit up, holding the woman under the arms. "Be careful of her shoulder and stuff, doctor, she needed to be patched up yesterday, I think."

"Really," he said as he pulled out a syringe and a thermometer.

"Attacked, so it looks. Ummm… She really can't remember what happened."

"Sounds bad. Okay, this might be a little cold," Owen said as he brought the stethoscope under her shirt and listened for her heartbeat. He checked her temperature, which was slightly elevated, more likely from yesterday's problems than the viral agent. He then prepped the syringe.

"I need to take a blood sample from your friend here," Owen stated as he pulled out a rubber hose and put it around her right arm and started looking for a vein.

"Whoa! Why?" Lynnae sat forward on the bed. She swayed a moment and then steadied herself.

"It looks like food poisoning, you were right on that. But I can have the lab run these samples when I go into the hospital tomorrow. I like to make sure there are no other factors that could be harmful. That's the worst thing, thinking you have something taken care of and then wham-o! Falling victim to something else a week later. It just makes me feel better as a doctor," he said sweetly. He flashed her a serious look and she leaned back.

"Fine. Since you're here, can you just double-check her shoulder at least? That's where she needed the stitches." 

"Not a problem. I won't even charge you for that," he said. He took the blood sample and then took the tubing off Elizabeth's arm. Owen stood up, gently removing Elizabeth’s top, and Lynnae helped lay the woman back down. He checked over his handiwork from the night before and cleaned it up a little. He pulled out a small tube of cream.

"You should clean the wound, carefully, every six hours, and put some of this over the stitches to keep them pliable, that will hurt less. Plus, there is a topical anaesthetic in it which should ease any discomfort, along with the normal antibacterial cream to stave off an infection."

Lynnae took the cream and put it on the end table by Elizabeth's bed. "I'll let Sam know. She's the caregiver in this group."

"Aha, that explains the smelly trash passing me by in the other room," Owen said as he pushed his glasses up his nose. "Now, onto the others."

Thirty minutes later, Owen had checked over and got samples from Jillian, David and Lynnae. Now he was sitting with Samantha on the settee in the main room of the suite. He had just checked her heart with his stethoscope and was checking her temperature.

"So, you and Lynnae, was it? You two have not thrown up?" He looked at her expectantly.

"Uh, yeah. We couldn't," Samantha replied. "I started heaving but pushed it down before the floodgates opened." She stared back at him. 

"Why is that?" Owen asked as he took her wrist and began to count the pulses. Everyone had reacted as was expected, except for these two.

"Lynnae has never really been sick in her life. Well, when she was a kid, almost a baby, her parents say how they had to rush her to the hospital because of some fever, pneumonia or something. But since then, she's been really healthy." Samantha closed her eyes a moment and breathed in deeply. She then opened them again, gulping in the air. "I cannot get sick. I'm the one who usually plays doctor. Learned that from my parents, how to care for others. Who would take care of them if I got sick? Do you realize how much willpower not tossing my cookies has taken?"

"Probably a great deal," Owen stated, jotting a couple of notes down on a pad. "Okay then," he said putting the pad inside the bag. "Roll up your sleeves please. I need to take a blood sample."

"Lynnae must have loved that."

"She did seem rather squeamish," Owen replied as he watched Samantha look from arm to arm and then roll up her left sleeve, the same thing she had done yesterday.

"She may not get sick a lot, but she never had to be around blood and stuff, so she generally… how do I put this? Prefers not to be anywhere near it when it is not residing in the body." Samantha took another deep breath. It looked like she was trying to hold the vomit at bay.

He brought out a new length of rubber tubing and tied it around her upper arm. She was staring at the bruise from where she had given blood the day before. Finding an artery then had been fucking hard, this would be no easier. He decided to acknowledge the bruise, especially after what Ianto and Gwen had said from about their excursion at the pub.

"What's that from?" Owen prepped the hypodermic.

"Vampire." Samantha kept staring at it.

"What?" Owen slid in the vial for collection and made her hand into a fist.

"Sorry. Apparently I gave blood or something yesterday and I have no fucking clue what happened!"

"You okay?" he asked as he pumped her arm up and down trying to find a vein.

"No. This is bothering me. It's really eating at me. We lost a day. None of us can remember what happened yesterday. Something hurt us and we don't know what it was." Samantha sniffed, her shoulders shaking. She then took another really deep breath and looked up at Owen, a small smile on her face, but it wasn't in her eyes. "You probably think I'm nuts now."

"No," Owen stated as he found a vein and jabbed. "Something's bothering you, and that's understandable, and now you all get sick. I'm sorry," he said as he pulled the blood out of her arm.

"You had nothing to do with it," Samantha said. 

Retching could be heard in the girls' bedroom, and Lynnae was suddenly seen stumbling from the far bedroom to the one Jillian and Elizabeth were in. Samantha shot Lynnae a look and Lynnae nodded.

"I'll take care of it, this time," Lynnae said as she ducked into the bedroom to check on either Jillian or Elizabeth.

Samantha slowly moved her head back and her blue eyes were staring into Owen's dark ones. Her eyes seemed to glaze over a moment. They then darted down to her arm, his hands, and back up to his eyes. Owen pulled the hypodermic out and placed a small piece of gauze over the puncture wound. 

"Hold that there, apply some pressure," he stated as he labelled the vial and dropped it into the black bag.

Samantha shrank back into the settee. She held on tight to the gauze, her fingertips turning white. Her eyes seemed to be darting all over him.

"Is something wrong?"

"Sorry, sorry," she muttered. "I feel like déjà vu here. You, me, the blood, it all feels so similar, but I don't know why." Her foot began to tap as she seemed to be lost in some memory, one she hopefully would not grasp.

"Don't worry about it," Owen replied, smiling encouragingly, that great old benevolent doctor smile every one of his superiors always seemed to have except him. "Things like that happen." He held out a plaster and pulled her hand away, placing the plaster sticky-side down over the wound. He then pulled out a small bottle of pills. "These should help with the nausea. Take one each with some water and you should be fine." Owen tapped out five pills and put them into Samantha's hand.

"Thanks. Even if that alone could stop it would be wonderful," She said, cuddling one of the pillows on the settee.

"I will take the samples in and if there are any further complications, I will be in contact with you then. Otherwise, with some rest, maybe stay in tonight, and plenty of fluids, this should be out of your system by the morning." Owen picked up the black doctor bag and held it in front of him. He loved playing the part.

"Thank you, Dr. Harper," Samantha said as she went to stand up.

"Don't get up. I'll let myself out. Just rest," Owen said as he headed for the main door. "Good to be of service." Owen let himself out and closed the door tight behind him. He leaned back against it and let out his own pent-up sigh. He took a moment, all alone between this strange new world and the old sanity of Torchwood.

He pulled himself off the door and started down the hallway towards the lift. "Tosh, I'll be back in about twenty minutes. If you want to help me run some of these tests, I would appreciate it."

"Whatever you need, Owen," Tosh said straight into his ear. "I'm here for you."


	14. Chapter 14

Tosh let out a huff, the hair that had fallen forward breezing out from in front of her eyes. She looked up at Owen who kept glancing at the CCTV footage and his own computer monitor, typing away.

"Don't worry about it, Jack is stalking them now and Ianto has his back," Tosh said. She didn't even try to smile, not like he would notice it. He was so concerned about this case, but no one seemed to be in deadly danger.

"I bet he has his back," Owen mumbled. "I know where Jack is, I passed by him on my way out of the hotel." Owen pulled up another file from the scanner down in the lab.

"Just exactly why am I hacking into American government databases, Owen?" Tosh peered closely at the screen in front of her at her workstation, pulling up the correct birth certificates from the appropriate states for their tourists.

"I need to know if they have been played with, Tosh," Owen said as he actually looked up from his work and at her. "Since you are the best at fixing this stuff yourself, I figured you would be the best at seeing if anyone else had played around with them."

"Thanks, Owen." She could feel a warmth wash over her at hearing him calling her the best at something. She pulled up file after public file: school grades, recommendation letters, public awards, newspaper articles, death records of parents and relatives, birth records of children, and anything else she could find; each person had their own file on her terminal.

"Bollocks!" Tosh looked up in time to see Owen smack his computer monitor and then sink back down into his chair, just staring at it. His hand was clenched into a fist, but he didn't seem pissed off, he seemed almost worried.

That look worried Tosh. It had been nearly five years that she had known Owen. She didn't think he could pull many surprises on her but he was worrying her with his reaction to what was actually a lucky break for them. It was rare for a person to survive a Weevil attack, Elizabeth was damn lucky. Even Jack sometimes died facing off against Weevils, and he was used to them and their movements. Although the falling through the perception filter and into the invisible lift was still a little odd.

Tosh looked at Owen. As soon as he got back to the Hub, he had changed into his t-shirt with his lab coat on over that. He still had his good black trousers on, but the coat covered most of it. The badges that dotted his lab coat glittered in the work lights. He was dressed comfortably, was in his element, yet he seemed to be on edge. He ran a hand through his short hair.

Tosh walked over towards Owen and pulled over Gwen's chair, sitting down next to him. "Owen, what's going on?"

"Nothing," he grumbled, sitting up.

"That's bullshit and we both know it!" She crossed her arms across her chest, her legs angled to the side. "You can't keep this to yourself, it will drive you bonkers. You need to tell someone."

"Who can I tell Tosh? This is pretty serious shit." Owen regarded her, his eyes flicking between her and the computer screen.

"You can tell me, Owen," she said, letting her hands drop to the arms of the chair. She leaned forward and then put a hand on Owen's arm, giving it a little squeeze. Even his muscles were tense.

He looked away and then looked at Tosh. "Okay." He pulled up picture ID's of each of the tourists. "Do any of them look familiar?"

"Nope. Never met any of them until yesterday," Tosh replied, peering at the monitor.

"Exactly. Yet, they are related to Torchwood. This Torchwood." Owen wiped the screen of the pictures.

"That must have been years ago," Tosh said. "I was one of the first Jack brought in and that was a while ago, and before that, they would have been teenagers or just in their twenties."

"Not impossible for Torchwood to bring in someone that young, especially if they had a _gift_. But, that's not what I mean." Owen pulled up a DNA program for Elizabeth Murphy. "Elizabeth is related to specifically two people, here and now."

"Who?" Tosh wondered if the girl might be related to Jack. He did have an impossible timeline and life. Maybe on one of his trips to the past he had left something behind. That could explain why he wanted to shove this under the carpet. Yet, if she knew she had a child out there, she didn't think she could give them up so easily.

"I accidentally ran a DNA analysis yesterday on Elizabeth, but I ran the test twice and then just re-ran her blood sample from today to prove it. I wanted to make sure that–"

Tosh cut Owen off. "Owen, just tell me. Is it Jack?" Although that would only explain one of the people. Owen had said two people. He had said she was related to two people. She looked back at the DNA spectrum analysis and how the dots matched up. "Whoever she is related to, those are parent matchings more than sibling matchings. Owen, who is it?" Tosh was starting to feel nervous.

Owen took a deep breath and then stood up, walking away from her. "Elizabeth Murphy appears to be the child of one Ianto Jones and one Gwen Cooper."


	15. Chapter 15

Lynnae logged off her computer and stretched. "Oooo…"" She quickly stopped stretching and brought her arms down. Her stomach was still yelling at her after being abused by the bout of food poisoning. If her stomach could actually yell at her, it would be swearing like David did. 

She took off her headphones and listened to the hotel suite. Silence could be heard from Elizabeth and Jillian's bedroom while the soft roar of some show on the telly could be heard from Samantha's and her bedroom where David had passed out. She looked over to the settee where Samantha was actually sleeping for once. Lynnae had to admit it; those pills the doctor had given them seemed to work.

She knew she should be resting too, but fiddling on her computer was a means of rest to Lynnae. A smile spread across her face as she thought how evil she could be since they all seemed to have survived. She snuck into her bedroom and around David's big shoes in the middle of the floor. Well, at least he had taken them off this time before crawling onto Samantha's bed. She grabbed up her small bag and snuck back into the living room, closing the door softly behind her. She sat down in the small arm chair the hotel provided and opened up her bag.

"What the hell?" she softly swore under breath. She pulled open the second compartment and then the compartment that held her IDs and passport. She closed her eyes and took a breath and then searched through her bag again. It was missing. Her baby was missing. 

She stood up and whacked Samantha on the feet. Samantha stirred a little and then tucked her knees under her stomach. But, she still did not get up. Lynnae smacked the woman on her legs, hard. 

Samantha opened her eyes without moving her head and glared at Lynnae. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Did you take my camera?"

"Why the hell would I want your camera? I have a better one." Samantha pushed herself up from the settee with one arm and then swung her legs down off it, sitting up, her hair a disheveled mess. "What time is it?"

"8:17," Lynnae replied, looking down at her right wrist and the watch she wore there. Lynnae crossed her arms, standing above Samantha. She frowned as she tried to remember the last time she had used her camera. The last picture she remembered taking was two nights ago at this one pub they had gone to. She had gotten a picture of David and this drag queen after David found out the woman he had been hitting on all night was a guy. Both of them had actually posed for the picture, cracking up.

"Get out of my way, you roadblock," Samantha said as she put her hands on Lynnae's hips and shoved her aside. Samantha stumbled into the toilet and running water could be heard. "I look like crap," she said through the open door. "How long was I out?"

"Almost an hour since everyone else calmed down, crankypants," Lynnae stated as she plopped down onto the settee. She pushed her glasses back up her nose. "That still doesn't answer where my camera is!"

"How could you, oh, she of the many hidden pockets, have lost your camera?" Samantha stood in the doorway, looking more normal having found a hairbrush, and ran it through her hair.

"If I knew, would I be abusing you?"

"Yes." Samantha picked up a glass of water from the table and sat down in the armchair. She sipped at the water. "Where did you have it last?"

"I can remember having it the night before at the pub with David. Unless it disappeared yesterday along with our memories." She scratched her head and pulled her ponytail holder out.

Suddenly Samantha got a look on her face. Most of the time it was a look of sheer brilliance. She often had it before some of her best book ideas, but she also had it before some of her most hare-brained schemes that always seemed to end up with them trying to talk their way out of some ordeal with a policeman. Granted they were usually cute policemen, but still… 

Samantha stretched out, reaching out for her backpack that she carried with her nearly everywhere. She grunted and tipped herself over the armrest but refused to get up to get her backpack. Lynnae rolled her eyes and stood up, snatching the bag by its hook and throwing it into Samantha's lap.

" _Oh!_ Hey, watch it! Still tender there." Samantha opened the bag and started rooting around in there, dropping a piece of clothing and then a notebook crammed full of notes and two pens to the ground and pulled out her own camera. Sure it was bigger than Lynnae's and… she was not going to start comparing cameras again, especially when hers was missing.

"So? What's the brilliant idea?" Lynnae sat down on the arm of the settee, her hands on her knees, leaning in.

"If you lost your camera that means you had it out, so that means there was something picture worthy. Most likely I pulled my camera out too. It should still have pictures of wherever we were yesterday then." Samantha positively beamed at her idea. 

Lynnae had to admit, it did make sense. "All right, let's see these pictures," Lynnae said as she grabbed her laptop.

"Why your laptop?" Samantha asked as she popped out the memory card from the back of her camera.

"It's closer. Gimme!" Lynnae snatched the memory card and slid it into her computer and put the computer on the coffee table between them. She opened her photo viewer and pulled up the images from the memory card. She started a couple of photos back from the end.

There were shots of the flower market. There was a shot of David stuffing Elizabeth under his armpit and holding her there outside another shop. Following that was a picture of Jillian looking at a toy, most likely for little Eve. Then there was a shot of David on a railing by the water with Jillian and Lynnae in front of him. Followed by a shot of the water. Then came a picture of the five of them by some fountain.

"That fountain! That looks familiar," Lynnae said as she hopped up and grabbed the complimentary tourism book the hotel provided. "I could swear I saw it in one of these– Aha! It's by the bay. That fountain is part of the superstructure that makes up Wales Millennium Centre."

Samantha looked at her, dumbfounded, for a moment. "Are you kidding me? We were talking about going there yesterday and by the Cardiff Market."

"According to your pictures, we did." Lynnae ripped the page out of the hotel book that discussed the Wales Millennium Centre. She then grabbed her black boots from by the door and looked down at the skirt she was wearing. "If we're going to look for information on what happened to us, I should change." Lynnae headed into her bedroom and came back out with a pair of black trousers in one hand and her trainers in the other hand. "Boots or shoes?"

"Boots. Those shoes don't work so well through slimy water," Samantha replied as she ejected the memory card after saving the photos to Lynnae's laptop. She got up and put the memory card inside the coffee press.

"Is that a smart idea?" Lynnae said as she slipped her trousers on under her skirt.

"Something weird is going on. This is the only proof we have. Jillian won't make any coffee without looking in there first and Elizabeth probably will not be making any coffee for a couple of days. It's hidden then." Samantha grabbed her boots from the other end of the settee and started slipping them on. "Millennium Centre?"

"Millennium Centre. It looks like we were at the Cardiff Market, but I have a feeling about the Millennium Centre." Lynnae peeled off her shirt and put on a more basic t-shirt and braces. "I should wear a belt, but I hate how they hit my stomach," she muttered to herself. 

Samantha tucked her hair back and ripped a piece of paper from the notebook she was stuffing back into her backpack. "I'll leave them a note, in case they come back to consciousness at some point." Samantha scribbled out a quick note and put it under the water glass on the coffee table and then put a new memory card in her camera and packed that away.

Lynnae tied her hair back up in a quick bun and grabbed her dark blue raincoat, stuffing the page from the hotel book in an inside pocket. She grabbed up her brown leather bag, slipping it on her left wrist and moved over to the main door, holding it open.

"Ready," she asked Samantha.

Samantha grabbed up her leather coat from the floor where it had fallen during the night. She slipped it on and then grabbed her backpack, slinging it over her left shoulder. "Let's go."

Lynnae made sure the door closed with a click and tucked her room key deep into the pocket of her trousers. She caught up with Samantha at the elevator and they rode down to the first floor. In the lobby they didn't make any small talk with the doorman, and hurried past a guy with short hair and a long gray coat hitting on one of the maids on a smoke break. They headed into the night and straight for some answers, or so they hoped.


	16. Chapter 16

Jack was able to use the shadows to his advantage, especially now after centuries of practice. Growing up he never thought that would be a phrase he would ever even think: centuries, centuries of life for him. The things he had done with his life, the good and the not-so-good, would probably make a person's head implode. Yet, it didn't affect his team.

Who was he kidding? The things they saw nearly every day did affect them. They were fools to think it didn't. At some point in their lives they had all wanted simplicity, normalcy, friends, lovers, families - and yet it kept being denied them. Jack had a choice. He had many choices over the years, and sometimes he wasn't sure just why he had made those choices. 

He knew why he stuck with Torchwood over a hundred years ago: survival. He knew why he rebuilt it after what Alex had done at the turn of the century: he knew what it could be capable of. He did know why he had come back after that year of hell, a year he was so ever grateful to whatever gods ruled the stars that his team, his family, did not remember. He knew why he came back to Torchwood: they were his family. Oh, the Doctor would always be around, but that was different. Ianto, Tosh, Gwen, and yes, even Owen, held a place in his heart that he was afraid to even admit to.

He snapped out of his reverie, something he had been doing a lot, yet less and less frequently, since he had come back from the year that should never have been, and looked at the two women. They stood under the lamplight in the middle of the Plass, both staring at something that was between them. He saw Samantha point at the fountain, and as she did her hand moved, casting a blue glow. It appeared to be a small computer screen, but if the shape of the shadow between them meant anything it looked like it was a camera.

They had known Lynnae had a camera and Tosh had gone over the memory card, and yet they had apparently forgotten to check the other bags and coats. Jack berated himself for getting sloppy. He had never gotten sloppy, that's why he was the go-to guy on many things. That's why he had been such an asset to Torchwood: never being sloppy, and knowing just how to clean up such interesting messes.

He put his hands in the pockets of his blue trousers, pushing his coat outwards as he observed Lynnae and Samantha talking. He stayed in the shadows and watched them. Jack surveyed the direction the girls were looking and figured they were going to head dockside, maybe by the railing Tosh had tracked them to before the attack and the fall. He watched them head off, out of the light, heading for the dockside. He decided to cut around the fountain. 

As Jack ducked to the opposite side of the fountain, he lost sight of the girls for a couple of minutes. He felt he didn't have to worry if he lost them, he had a secret weapon that he knew they did not have. He smiled, thinking of his secret weapon. He made Jack's heart glad, and that alone was worth coming back. Ianto had his faults, they all did. Yet, at least he could look back on the things that Ianto had done, the betrayals that hurt more than he could tell the boy, and know that Ianto had at least believed in what he had been doing.

Jack tucked his head down and swaggered around the fountain, towards the dockside and stopped. He couldn't see Lynnae or Samantha. He tapped the Bluetooth earpiece that he wore and contacted Ianto.

"Ianto, can you check CCTV?"

"You lost them, didn't you?" Ianto chided straight into Jack's ear.

"I was keeping out of their line of sight, that's all," Jack replied, putting his hands on his hips, looking around the Plass.

"Yes, Sir," Ianto said, knowing what it did to Jack when he called him Sir with a capital "S."

"Just… Just tell me where they are at," Jack responded.

"I see them. They're coming back from the dockside, towards the Fountain." He could actually hear Ianto typing away over the earpiece. "Damn."

"What is it, Ianto," Jack said as he quickly moved around the Fountain, trying to spot them.

"Delinquent." 

"Tell me, Ianto."

"Some punk–"

"Hey! I haven't been called that in years!"

"No, Jack! Someone just stole the camera they were looking at out of their hands and the kid, along with Lynnae and Samantha, are headed straight for you."

Jack looked up and stared into the darkness ahead of him. He could see a blob of moving shadows aiming right for him. Before he could move out of their way, the kid rushed past him. Jack made a dive to grab the kid, but he weaselled out of Jack's grasp. Jack turned on his heel to run, but instead got ploughed down by someone else. For a moment he wondered if the kid had a buddy.

As they rolled on the ground, Jack saw a flash of brunette hair come cascading down from some hairdo. Jack braced his feet against the cement and stopped their movement. The person went to scramble up, but he held tight to their arms. He inwardly groaned as he saw that it was no perpetrator, but rather Lynnae on top of him. He looked up at her as she stared ahead watching as he heard two pairs of running footsteps continue through the Plass.

Lynnae pulled against him and then looked down in frustration. He could feel her heart beating on his. He stared into her brilliant blue eyes and swore he saw something familiar in them, but his mind couldn't place the reason why. She stared at him, her body tense. Suddenly he felt her body go limp in his arms as she looked at him, really looked at him. He thought he was free, that the retcon had done its job, but now, now he was worried. In her eyes he saw recognition.

In the back of his mind, he heard and recognized the sound of footsteps jogging towards him and Lynnae, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the look on her face. He could almost see the memories flooding back into her mind from the day before.

"Damn it!" a feminine voice said next to him. He tore his eyes away and looked up at Samantha. "They got away! They fucking got away with my camera! Son of a bitch!" Samantha slapped her thigh and then crouched down next to the pair, dropping her backpack to her side. "And just what the hell are you doing? You tackle the wrong guy and now you're on top of him and staying there?"

Lynnae pulled away from Jack and he let her go. She stumbled backwards falling to her knees, still looking at Jack. Jack sat up, the coat splayed out behind him. He knew he had to get out of here, and fast. Samantha was still crouched down and put a hand on Lynnae's shoulder as the girl continued to breathe rather heavily, still staring at Jack.

"Whoa, whoa! Just breathe. Are you okay? Did you hurt anything?" Samantha looked over Lynnae and then turned to Jack. "Are you okay? What happ–"

Samantha stopped in mid-sentence and just stared at Jack. He could feel his body grow cold as he saw the same look of recognition come over Samantha. He swore under his breath in an alien language that no one on this planet should know, well, for at least another 300 years. He jumped up to his feet.

"Sorry about that. Gotta go," Jack said as he turned around. He felt a hand grip his left arm and turned him back around. He looked at Lynnae as she held tight to him.

"What did you just say?"

"Sorry? I said I must be on my way."

"No, before that. You muttered something under your breath." She looked at him with an intense fire in her eyes.

"It was just a word." He could feel how tightly her hand was gripped on his arm. If he bruised easily he would have been in pain.

"No. I know that word. I made that word up when I was kid. It was just a nonsense word. I used to say it all the time and giggle, even my parents can say that word I said it enough times."

Jack felt his soul turn icy at that thought. Then it was quickly replaced by fire as he wondered just what it was Owen was keeping from them. As soon as he had the chance, Dr. Harper would be telling him exactly what he knew about this group of tourists.

"You! Yesterday! She fell on you yesterday." Samantha looked from Jack to the spot that was the invisible lift in the ring of stones around the Fountain. "And then Elizabeth was hurt, and I gave blood, I did give blood." Samantha held her left arm. "The doctor! It was the same doctor!"

Lynnae shuddered, closing her eyes a moment and then they snapped open, boring straight through Jack. "Who are you? What happened to my friends?"

Jack let out a sigh. "Perhaps you had better come with me."


	17. Chapter 17

Ianto and Jack stared at the two women through the beaded curtain as they sat down behind the counter in the tourist office. Ianto could still see how much of the office they were taking in with their eyes only. Jack had tried to brief him on what happened, but it all boiled down to the basics, they had both shaken off the retcon.

Ianto looked down at the opaque powder in the coffee cup that he was holding. He had ground up some of the retcon for the cups they would offer the two women. If they were smart, they would only drink the coffee if it had not been pre-poured. Just a couple of sips should reactivate the retcon that should still be in their systems from the previous day.

"Can they remember everything?" Ianto softly asked Jack.

"From the questions they were shooting my way, I would assume so," Jack said as he leaned against the doorframe, one arm above his head.

Ianto looked at him. "Both of them shook it off?"

"Yes."

"There was retcon in the coffee."

"And there was some in the tea they had later."

"And they can still remember?"

"Yes." Jack pushed himself away from the wall and strode through the curtains into the main room of the tourist office. He then leaned sideways on the main counter, staring at the women. His right elbow seemed to be holding him up. "So, ladies, other than handsome men like me, what brings you to Cardiff?"

Ianto rolled his eyes and put the coffee pot on a tray along with four mugs, knowing which ones were his and Jack's. He grabbed some sugar and milk and made his way through the curtain, barely making the beads clack against each other.

"We are just here on vacation," Lynnae stated, sticking out her legs and crossing her arms across her chest. "You still have not told us exactly what attacked our friend. It happened in here, didn't it? I can remember seeing a pool of blood."

Jack exchanged a look with Ianto and Ianto set the coffee tray down. He poured a cup for Jack and handed it to him. Jack held it but did not drink. Ianto poured a cup for Samantha and put that in front of her. She picked it up and sniffed it but did not drink. He then poured a cup of coffee for Lynnae and put it down on the desk in front of her. She did not even pick it up. He then poured a cup for himself.

"Your friend Elizabeth was attacked in this office and I saw some of what happened. What attacked her was not human, which is why she needed immediate help. I am glad to hear that she is doing all right," Ianto said looking at Samantha and nodding towards his own arm. He then took a sip of the coffee.

"Thank you," Samantha said as she put the coffee cup to her lips. "But you still haven't answered why we all forgot yesterday."

"An after-effect of donating so much blood yesterday." Ianto took another big sip of his coffee. 

Ianto saw Samantha start tapping her toes and then tapping her fingers. She then scratched her head and said, "Try again." Samantha put the coffee cup to her lips again and took a sip then continued, "You can remember yesterday, and only two of us donated blood. What about the other two?"

"You know your science," Jack said as he took a big gulp of his coffee.

"It's a hobby of mine. So talk." Samantha seemed to take another sip of the coffee. 

Ianto noticed Lynnae give her head a scratch and finally pick up her cup and take a sip of the coffee. She then glared at Jack, and then at Ianto. He remembered how she had been quick to get in Jack's face yesterday when it came to protecting her friends.

"All right," Jack said. "But tell me, would your friend want to remember?"

"What?" Lynnae snapped.

"Your friend was brutally attacked. She could have easily died. Is that something you want her to remember?" Jack took a big gulp of his coffee and put the cup down on the counter.

Ianto watched as both Samantha and Lynnae took sips of their coffees. The two women exchanged a look between each other. Lynnae took another sip of her coffee. Ianto put his cup down on the counter.

"If we could all forget the bad things in our life, what about the good things," Samantha said, balancing the cup on her knee. "It sucked, but a lot of things suck. If we never see how crappy life can be, how do we know we are living?"

"Interesting view on things from someone so young," Jack stated.

"I'm not that young," Samantha replied. "And if you have seen some of the things I have seen in my life, you need to choose a side."

"You write evil characters pretty well," Ianto said, taking another sip of his coffee.

"Just because I can write them does not mean I am one," Samantha replied, sipping at her own coffee. "You a fan?"

"Let's just say I know some things too," Ianto stated.

"Yeah, but we have no idea what kind of characters you two would write well, much less emulate," Samantha said.

Lynnae took a sip of her coffee. "We do not let anything happen to our family, and our friends are our family." Lynnae put her coffee cup down on the desk. "Now, start answering some questions or we are going to the police."

Ianto looked at Jack and the two men shrugged. Samantha quickly put her coffee cup down on the counter as she stood up, holding her backpack in front of her like a shield. Ianto moved over to the gap in the counter and the wall to pretend to block their way out.

"I'm sorry, we really can't do that," Jack said as he stood up straight in front of the two women. "But, I really wish you wouldn't involve the police. They hate it when we mess with the tourists."

Lynnae let out a grunt and pushed Ianto out of the way, slamming him into the wall. Ianto thought for a moment that she was going to punch Jack, but instead she threw all her anger into him. Samantha waltzed right past them, tossing her backpack onto her back, and in Ianto's face. He flicked his eyes away. Lynnae unlocked the door and stormed out of the tourist office. Samantha went to fly out, too, but not before she turned around and seemed to be cataloguing the office and them with her eyes. The door finally shut behind the women and there was silence in the tourist office.

"Do you think they drank enough?" Ianto asked.

"A little bit should have been fine, but any amount should re-trigger what's still in their system." Jack turned around to the computer and pulled up the CCTV footage of the kid that had stolen the camera. "We need to make sure the police pick this kid up and then we need to make sure that camera disappears."

Ianto started picking up the cups as Jack downloaded the data from the evening. Their hands grazed together as Ianto went to grab Jack's cup, but instead of touching him again, Jack's hands encircled around the cup. Jack smirked at him and downed the rest of his coffee and then handed the cup to Ianto. Ianto looked over Jack's shoulder at the CCTV of the women walking across the Plass, barely talking.

"Don't worry, they will be forgetting us before they can reach any police constable. What a shame for two guys like us." Jack flashed a smile at Ianto and then went back to the computer screen.

Ianto sighed and put Jack's coffee cup on the tray and headed to the back office to clean them up. His eyebrow furrowed as he looked down and saw how little seemed to be missing from Lynnae and Samantha's coffee cups. There was very little missing, if any at all.


	18. Chapter 18

Owen had lost track of time as result after result from the blood samples he had taken that night came in. Tosh sat next to him at his desk, her left hand over his right one, as he clicked over all the data they had gathered. It had been a long day and long ago he had stopped smelling her perfume, a scent that reminded him of sunny days in the garden at home before he realized how little love his own mother had for him.

"You need to tell them, Owen. At least tell Jack," Tosh said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"And just what the bloody hell do I tell them, Tosh?" Owen said, pulling his hand away from hers. "We don't even know where they are from."

"At least tell Jack, he might have an idea." Tosh smoothed down her skirt several times. With how quiet and intense she was, and yet not looking anywhere, Owen knew she was ruminating on something. "Could they be from the future?"

"When, Tosh? They are so entrenched in the past, with entire families that swear they are the children they gave birth to. How is that possible, Tosh?"

"Well, I'm sorry, Owen! I just figured I would remember giving birth to two people who are older than I am!" Tosh stood up and turned her back to him.

"And I would think I would remember delivering any child Jack-fucking-Harkness could supposedly carry!" Owen stood up, glaring at her.

Tosh turned back to him. "Just how is that possible?"

"I have no bloody clue, unless it has something to do with the not-being-able-to-die thing," Owen stated.

"So you think that if you suddenly came back from the dead and couldn't die, you could walk around having tons of sex and giving birth to kids yourself?" Tosh put her hands on her hips and looked fiercely at Owen.

"I don't fucking bloody know, Tosh," Owen said, pointing at her.

Just then the lights above the cog door flashed back and forth as it slid open, revealing Gwen standing there. She walked inside a couple of feet and stopped, staring at Owen and Tosh's tableau.

"What's going on?" Gwen moved slowly towards them.

Tosh pulled away from Owen's desk and stood behind her own. "Nothing, Gwen. What did Andy want?" Tosh asked.

"Yes, just what did the brilliant constable want in the middle of everything," Owen harrumphed as he sat back down at his computer, minimizing the results.

Gwen looked down and then looked back at them, a smirk on her face. "Oh, nothing. He thought he had found an alien while patrolling the Quay. Turns out it was just some kids with aluminum foil, laser pointers and really good contacts." Gwen let out a chuckle, which was cut off by Jack storming into the Hub through the still open cog door, Ianto hot on his heels.

Owen looked up shocked at the speed and steadfastness Jack moved at, his shirt cuffs rolled up and that intense look on his face. Behind him the Teaboy hurried after his master, carrying his precious coat, tossing it on the rack as they strode by. Even then he didn't miss a beat.

Owen looked up expectantly as Jack's left hand landed on the back of Owen's chair, spinning him 90-degrees to face him. Jack leaned in, his right hand on Owen's desktop. He swooped in at Owen, a snarl on his face.

"You will tell me why we are watching this group of tourists, and you will tell me now." Jack's voice was hard, really hard. The last time Owen had heard that harshness he had been glad it had not been directed at him, but it had meant that the world was in danger from Beth and her friends, and their alien sleeper cell had awoken.

"What happened?" Owen asked, swallowing down his pride for the moment.

"You want to know what happened? Two of them shook off the retcon from yesterday." Jack leaned in even closer, his face mere inches away from Owen's.

"I thought that wasn't possible," Gwen stated.

"You did," Ianto replied from somewhere by Tosh's desk.

"I know I did, Ianto," Gwen said. "But I thought that was the rare exception, and I had a trigger from Suzie. How could two people shake it off like that?"

"Which two?" Owen asked, trying to keep his head from exploding.

"Lynnae and Samantha," Jack nearly spit out.

"Lynnae and Samantha," Owen repeated. He looked at Jack and then it clicked. Of course it could be Lynnae and Samantha. Scarily that made sense.

"We need to tell them, Owen," Tosh said.

"Tell us what?" Jack said moving impossibly closer to Owen's face. If he couldn't tell how pissed Jack seemed to be he would have thought the man was going to kiss him. He would have preferred that to what he was about to tell them.

"Maybe we should go to the conference room–"

"You will tell me now."

"I could explain it better and show you–"

"Tell me, Owen. Tell me now."

"You won't believe it. I don't want to bel–"

"Now, Owen!"

"Torchwood!"

"What?" 

"They are from Torchwood."

"No, they're not. What Torchwood?"

"Cardiff." Owen could feel his heart racing.

"No."

"Yes. They are the children of Torchwood. They are our children."

Jack pulled back, out of Owen's space and regarded him a moment. He then pointed towards the far doorway. "Conference room now."


	19. Chapter 19

Lynnae closed the door to their hotel suite behind her and locked it up tight. She turned around and looked at Samantha. Samantha dropped her backpack to the floor and then divested herself of her coat, tossing it willy-nilly. Lynnae crossed her arms across her chest.

"Good thing I am such an expert on the Jack Jones novels and knew what you were telling me," Lynnae stated as they listened to the sound of soft snoring coming from the bedrooms.

"You wrote a thesis about them. What was it called? Oh, yes, ‘A Case for Confusing Everyone Else on the Planet About Where To Find the Jack Jones Novels in the Library'."

"No, it was called ‘A Case for Classification of the Jack Jones Novels Under Dewey Range 616 Rather Than With Fiction Monographs.' It was a nod to the degree of medical research that went into the novels. And it was for a journal, not a thesis. And, it's still a good thing I know them. Otherwise how would I have known that the three toe taps, with the two finger taps, followed by one scratch to the head meant to pretend to do what they wanted, such as pretending to drink the coffee."

"How else would he communicate with Nurse Owens privately? You would make a good Nurse Owens. You knew the response code of two toe taps and the head scratch." Samantha dropped into the armchair, sprawling out.

Lynnae rolled her eyes and stepped over Samantha's outstretched legs. She _accidentally_ gave Samantha a kick as she fell to the settee. Lynnae still had her raincoat on but she didn't seem to care.

"So now what," Lynnae asked as a yawn escaped her mouth.

"Now, we should get some sleep," Samantha stated, staring into space.

Lynnae craned her head, looking at Samantha incredulously. "Shouldn't we go to the police?" She pushed her hair back.

"No."

"Why the hell not?" Lynnae sat up against the cushions.

"They tried to drug us or something. They might still be around. If I remember correctly there were at least five of them." Samantha sat forward in the armchair, her hands on the ends of the arms.

"The two tonight, the doctor from earlier, and I think there were two women."

"One was there when you fell yesterday–"

"Please don't remind me." Lynnae visibly shuddered. If she could have forgotten anything about yesterday, it would have been staring at what seemed like an immense chasm spread out below her and still moving. It was not a pleasant sensation in the slightest.

"There are at least five of them, maybe more. Someone could have had the day off or been doing some other work in another part of their base."

"So?"

"So, we wait until tomorrow. When everyone is up, we will have a bigger number of people to go to the police with. With five us, at least one of us might make it before they take all of us out."

"Oh, that's a pleasant thought." Lynnae found herself staring at the little orange light that indicated where the light switch was on the wall so people could find it in the dark. She licked her lips and thought a dirty thought. "Why do they all have to be bad? A couple of them were really cute."

"Get your mind out of the gutter." Samantha stood up and kicked off her boots. It would have been easier for her to untie them, but half the time she never took the easy option.

"It's just visiting the penthouse suite you built there." Lynnae could feel herself getting flushed. "That one with the accent, he was a real cutie. And did you see the ass on him?" A smirk played across her face so big she could feel it.

"Get out of my bed, you horndog," Samantha stated as she stood above Lynnae. 

"Your bed?"

"David is probably still passed out in my bed, so I get to sleep here tonight and you get to sleep with David."

"Ewwwww! Even being in the same room with him is disgusting, thank you very much!" Lynnae jumped up, glaring at Samantha, fighting back the yawn that wanted to come out and prove Samantha right that they should get some sleep.

“Since when did you object to sleeping with sharing a bedroom with a cute guy?”

“It’s David. David is just…” Lynnae took a breath. “He’s more like a brother, than anything else.”

“Anything else, eh?”

Samantha shot Lynnae a look that prompted her to flip off Samantha, and then she headed into the bedroom. Lynnae took off her raincoat and hung it by the main door. She then untied her boots and picked them up in her hand. Samantha exited the bedroom and headed for the toilet.

"I'm just taking a quick shower, I'll be out in ten minutes," Samantha stated.

"I just love going in there after you," Lynnae replied, thinking of how warm and muggy it would be in there.

"I'll make sure to leave a surprise for you then," Samantha said as she gave Lynnae one of her irritating smirks. She gave a laugh and then closed the door behind her.

Lynnae let out a groan as she undid the buttons on her top and got ready for bed, knowing she would barely sleep. She picked up her laptop and carted it into the bedroom.


	20. Chapter 20

Gwen unlocked the door to her flat and tossed the keys inside her bag. It was late, she knew it was late, and she was not at all surprised to see Rhys asleep on the settee in front of the telly. She smiled wistfully, her mind still trying to grasp what had happened that night.

When Owen had finally spilled about what had made him so interested in the group of tourists with the uncanny ability to survive a Weevil attack and fall through perception filters, she wanted to laugh, laugh in his face. Yet, it all made sense somehow. The Rift had somehow dropped five children in their laps, and yet they weren't children.

No. They were their children, and as long as there was proof, she would try and treat them as such. She watched Rhys' chest rise and fall with each snore. She had to tell him. It would be the right thing. She had to tell him, but how the bloody hell did she do that when she hadn't even told him about Torchwood.

She dropped her bag on a table in the hallway and took off her coat, hanging it up on a little hook by the front door. She kicked off her red trainers and headed into the loo, starting the water for a shower. As she stripped, she imagined how that insane conversation with Rhys would go.

_"Honey, guess what?" she would ask as she sat down beside him._

_"Aye, what is it? ‘Wife Swap' is almost on."_

_"Well, Rhys, honey, you know my job?"_

_"The special ops, yeah, what about it?"_

_"Guess what? I don't get to hunt down murderers and thugs, instead I get to battle with aliens that want to destroy the Earth every single day of our existence!"_

Gwen let the water roll over her body, cleansing her of the long day. She held her breath and tucked her head under the water, giving a little start as it was hot on her scalp. She held her breath as long as she could, lingering under the cleansing sensation, and then held it a couple of seconds longer as she imagined all the colourful things he would say to that information. Her mind continued to play on.

_"Shhh… shhhh... now, Rhys. There's some good news."_

_"The aliens already killed us off and this is bloody wonderful heaven?"_

_"Well, no. You see, why Cardiff attracts the interest of the universe is we have a rift in time and space churning above us all the time."_

_"Bloody great! We're the rubbish heap of the universe!"_

_"Well, the Rift did give us a gift today."_

_"What could it give us that's so special?"_

_"I have a child. My child, from the future maybe, who knows, but she is mine. And I helped to give birth to another one."_

_"We have a child? We do? That's– That's brilliant!"_

_"No, Rhys. We don't. I do. With someone I work with."_

Gwen rinsed the soap off her body as her mind assaulted her with the images of how upset and devastated Rhys would be. She knew he wanted a child, always did. She may act like she didn't know what he was referring to, but she knew. Rhys would make the best dad one day. Hopefully.

She grabbed the nearest towel and wrapped it around her body as she stepped out of the shower. She let her hair drip little droplets of water down her back, revelling in the sensation of anything that did not have to do with Torchwood. Gwen turned and looked at herself in the mirror above the sink. 

Her dark eyes stared back at her, yet they seemed much darker lately. Torchwood was stealing her body and soul, and now it seemed to even steal her chances for happiness with one Rhys Williams. Sure, he could be such a goof at times, but for sure he still looked sexy even when he spilled sauce from the home-made lasagne on his rugby shirt. He was still gorgeous to her, and was a wonderful fiancé.

She padded into the flat. There he still sat, asleep, as some show played on the telly. She sat down next to him, only a towel between them, and just looked at him for what felt like hours, but was actually a couple of minutes.

"I'm not drying the cushions if you're the one getting them wet," Rhys said, his eyes still closed. 

Gwen let out a little laugh and gave him a smack on the shoulder. 

"Hey now!" Rhys opened his eyes and put up his hands in defence. 

Gwen stopped smacking him and snuggled close to him, holding onto his arm. She ran her other hand through his short brown hair, loving how soft it felt under her fingertips, and she loved the smell of him. His smell was so manly. It had a hint of the sea, the smell of the forest, and cinnamon. She swore he smelled like cinnamon, of course that was usually after he had eaten his favourite Danish.

"What's going on?" Rhys moved his arm under her, and pulled her in tight to his side, the wet towel soaking through his blue rugby shirt.

"I love you. No matter what happens, no matter what you find out, remember that I love you." Gwen leaned in and her lips touched Rhys', crushing them with a ferocity. She needed him, she needed to feel only him.

"All right, all right, I love you," Rhys responded when she finally allowed them up for air. "Did something happen at work?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" Rhys' speech was cut short as Gwen reached down and grabbed his manhood. He looked at her a little perplexed and then smiled. "Do ya need to talk about it?"

"All I need is you," Gwen said as she kissed Rhys again, her hands on the back of his neck pulling him as close as he could get. She couldn't tell him about Torchwood, not now, and she could not tell him about Elizabeth and Jillian. Gwen straddled him, pinning him to the settee. For now, she would just tell him, and show him, how much she needed him.


	21. Chapter 21

Elizabeth rolled over in her bed and stared at a crack of sunlight that splashed against the wall through a slit in the curtain. The sun was out and it was a new day. That was a good thing. She gingerly pushed herself up in the bed and slowly swung her legs over the side. Yesterday was a long and strange day and her body ached like it was still being beat up by a troll with a club.

She stood up, unsteady on her feet a moment and then let out a yawn. In the bed next to her she could see Jillian tucked under the covers, her Petey Penguin pajama top showing from under the blanket. Elizabeth smiled, glad to know that some things never changed. Two Christmases ago, Elizabeth had gotten Jillian and her little daughter Eve Petey Penguin pajamas. The two wore their pajamas whenever they were away from each other as a way to stay connected. It was a good thing she had bought Eve a nightgown she could grow into.

Elizabeth took a couple of steps forward and gripped the desk that was across from her bed. Her shoulder began throbbing and felt warm. She gingerly touched it through her thin, flannel pajamas. The pajamas were so thin, she could detect the stitches under her fingertips. Elizabeth vaguely remembered something about some antiseptic something or other and looked around the room, her eyes finally landing on the small tube of cream on the bedside table.

She shuffled over to the table and picked up the tube of medical cream. She let out a breath and then Elizabeth shuffled over to her luggage and pulled out a pair of comfy yoga pants, a tank top, and cardigan sweater. Next to her suitcase was the dresser and she tugged out her drawer and grabbed a set of underwear. 

Letting out a determined sigh, Elizabeth held all the stuff she had gathered in between her arms like a cradle and then swiftly made her way past the still sleeping Jillian and into the main room of the suite. She scurried straight past Samantha passed out on the settee and into the toilet. She quietly shut the door behind her and dropped the pile of stuff in her arms, clothes and all, onto the counter. Elizabeth fell onto the counter and held herself up, looking in the mirror. She looked almost ghostly, no wonder they had been so worried. Well! She was determined to look and feel much better in no time at all.

Letting the water run a moment first, Elizabeth then stripped off her pajamas and stepped into the warmth of the shower stall. At first her muscles balked at her and then began to relax under the warm pulse of the water. Realizing she had not grabbed any of her toiletries she looked around the stall and saw that Lynnae had left her shampoo and soap behind whenever she had used the shower last. Elizabeth grabbed up the shampoo and squirted some into her hand, the smell of strawberries assailing her senses.

As she worked the shampoo into a lather, her mind began to wander about their trip. Years ago Elizabeth and her family had gone to Ireland one summer, and Samantha had wanted to go so badly. Lynnae, Samantha, and Elizabeth had agreed that one year they would all go together because it was just too cool to not go. Even David and Jillian had wanted to visit another country at some point. At some point in their lives, all of them except for Jillian, had taken at least one trip to Europe. They had never traveled as a group before and the trips usually involved work or family.

When Samantha had come over to England to research The Fortune-Teller's Odyssey, she got to stay in England and Scotland for almost two months. They had all missed her. They had started making excuses and missing their weekly dinners, their bitch sessions, bashing men with David the only one to defend the entire male race, and their holiday traditions of food and stories. Lynnae and Elizabeth were already in graduate school so they couldn't take off. In fact, the only way Lynnae was able to come back to England with Samantha for the book signings was because she had talked her professor into it, as long as she did a journal paper on the difference between libraries in the United States and libraries in England.

Elizabeth chuckled as she rinsed off, thinking of how coming back for the book tour only made Samantha want to see the United Kingdom again. Samantha and David had surprised them all this last Christmas with the trip, contingent on the fact that Lynnae and Elizabeth graduated on time. They had thought Jillian might not be able to make it, with having a five-year-old daughter and all, but she was able to, and Elizabeth was glad. She liked sharing a room with Jillian. She was a lot neater than Samantha and Lynnae.

She would walk the Earth to save any of them, but she also knew her preferences. After Samantha's Mom had passed away, Elizabeth traveled with Samantha as her research assistant. It was the least she could do, Samantha needed the companionship if nothing else. Sometimes Elizabeth felt closer to her friends than her own family; she would do anything to save them. Yet, if she had to pick up after Samantha or Lynnae one more time she might kill them, bring them back to life, and kill them again.

Elizabeth stepped out of the shower and put the medical cream over her stitches. She was proud of herself, only wincing twice from touching it. She slowly got dressed and stood up before the mirror. She smiled at herself. She seemed to have a little more color. She opened the door to the main room and shivered as goosebumps crept along her arm from the blast of cold air that snaked through the muggy steam from her shower.

Seeing her sandals on the floor of the main room, Elizabeth traipsed over to them and began to put them on. Leaning over she spotted a note on the coffee table. She picked it up and began to read it. Apparently Lynnae and Samantha had snuck out last night to the Wales Millennium Centre because they had a lead on the missing day. Elizabeth's curiosity was piqued, but she was hungry, and thirsty. She walked over to a small cabinet in the corner of the room and rooted around in the small stockpile of snacks they had there. Nothing struck her fancy.

Suddenly, Elizabeth remembered the complimentary coffee down in the lobby and the little shop around the corner with fresh pastries. Anything would be good, and getting out of this hotel room would be a blessing. She loved to be out and about and hated being confined to one place. She stood up over Samantha and shook her by the shoulder.

"What? What the hell do you want?" Samantha whined as she woke up. Staying curled up, Samantha turned around on the settee and looked at Elizabeth. "You okay? Is something wrong?"

"No, no, uh, I wanted to go and get something to eat. Probably get some coffee from down in the lobby." She put her hands behind her back.

"We have a coffee press in the room, we have real coffee. You should rest." Samantha let out a big yawn that showed Elizabeth the back of her throat.

"No. I want to get out of here. I hate being cooped up. I will be right back."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, you can stay here. I'll be right back." Elizabeth grabbed her key card from on top of the small cabinet where she had left it, well, she couldn't remember when she had left it there, but she figured it was hers. She also saw her bag on top of Jillian's carryall and grabbed that up, putting it under her arm.

"Okay. Hurry back and be careful. If you feel woozy or anything just sit down and call me or have one of the hotel staff help you or something." Samantha seemed to be staring right into her.

Elizabeth felt a little chagrined for worrying her friends. "I promise. I'll see you in fifteen minutes." Elizabeth trudged forward and went to open the door being stopped by all the locks. She let out a little giggle as she looked at Samantha who just rolled her eyes and undid the locks and left the suite.

Downstairs in the lobby, Elizabeth let out a sigh as sunlight streamed through the open windows and the glass door in the front of the hall. People hurried by, some just arriving, others departing and definitely some businessmen at work. In between them the hotel staff worked seamlessly at their jobs.

She stopped at the mini-café in the one corner of the lobby and ordered a vanilla latte. Receiving it from the barista, she sat down at a table near the entrance and sipped at the drink. Elizabeth smiled at a young pregnant woman who accidentally bumped her table and was apologetic. She laughed while watching a dad struggling to keep a set of triplets in hand as they wanted to explore everything in the lobby. 

Elizabeth finished her latte and returned the cup. She looked at the clock on the wall above Reception. It had been almost half an hour since she left the suite and had told Samantha she would be back in fifteen minutes, but darn it, she wanted some pastries. 

Figuring Samantha had just fallen back asleep anyway, Elizabeth decided to still go to the shop around the corner. She headed for the main doors and gave the doorman a smile as he went to open the door when a white hot, yellow light blinded her. She wanted to scream, but her body seemed to refuse as she lost all sensation.


	22. Chapter 22

Owen yawned and rubbed the palms of his hands across his face. He scrunched his eyes shut and opened them as the cog door to the Hub opened in front of him. Running a hand through his still damp hair from showering he strode in and threw his black leather coat on the settee, drawing a look of contention from Ianto. He couldn't care less what Ianto wanted to bitch about now, but was quite amazed to see the settee and little table completely spotless.

Owen ignored Ianto's looks and continued over to his desk and logged into the computer, pulling up his research on their… kids. Even the thought stuck in his mind, much less having to utter those words again. It was so improbable, but what surprised him was not the fact that they had children that were older than themselves, well, older than most of them, fucking Harkness. No, what disturbed him was the parentage.

Looking at the diagram on the computer screen, he committed it to memory again. Elizabeth Murphy was the daughter of Gwen and Ianto. David Ortiz was the son of Tosh and himself. He always thought he would have been rubbish as a dad, and yet it bothered him that he had never had the chance, at least none that he could remember. He shook his head and turned back to the diagram. Lynnae Wolski was the daughter of Jack and Tosh. Any child with Tosh's brains and her looks as a start had it made. She would have made a great mother.

Owen let out a sigh and went back to the diagram, picking up an errant pen, twiddling it between his thumb and forefinger. Yet, when it came to the last two, something had happened that surrogates were needed. Even more than that, some of the surrogate DNA had melded to the children. Trace amounts, but more than normal surrogate parenthood, and that made him wonder if it was alien technology or something else that had been behind it. 

On the screen were the ones that made this whole scenario really interesting. Jillian Marsh was the daughter of Tosh and Ianto, but it appeared that Gwen might have been the surrogate. Then there was Samantha O'Neill. The possibilities of her made him want to go on a bender. Samantha appeared to be the daughter of Ianto, which made Owen wonder why they kept using the Teaboy, and himself. The surrogate appeared to be, of all people, Jack-fucking-Harkness.

Owen let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair, wishing his mind would quit working and just let him sleep for a couple of hours at least. He had spent most of the night at the Hub going over and over things and had finally left early that morning to go home, sleep and shower. Well, he went home and showered.

"Ahem." Owen looked up and saw Ianto hovering by the far desk.

"What do you want?" Owen swivelled the chair around a little, looking at Ianto, the pen twiddling up by his ear as he put an elbow on the arm of his office chair trying to look calm.

"I couldn't stop thinking about what you told us last night," Ianto said, moving forward, clutching something in his hands. "So this morning I was leafing through my diaries, trying to figure out if the children were part of our past or are still to come."

"Bored with shagging Jack already?"

"Fine. There are other things I could be doing," Ianto said as he turned around so quickly his grey jacket flared out a little. Ianto headed for the stairs to the tourist office when Owen stopped him.

"Ianto, wait. What do you have?" 

"What makes you think I have something?"

"You wouldn't want to tell me about your diary if you didn't." Owen sat up straight in his chair and put the pen down on the desk. "You wouldn't let me that close to your personal thoughts if it wasn't important."

Ianto stopped and turned back. He looked at Owen and then moved over to Owen's desk. "The only thing I didn't remember right away, but made notations about, was Jack being sick for about a week; severe nausea, some cramping, disorientation."

"He never gets sick, although now we know why." Owen reached out for the book, but Ianto held tight to it. "When did this happen?"

"It started the second Thursday after the whole thing with Suzie."

"That bitch." Owen glanced at the diagram and then back at Ianto. "But why didn't I notice that? I'm a doctor for fuck's sake."

"You were a little busy taking care of Gwen."

Owen did not even look at Ianto. Someone had to take care of her after what that psycho bitch Suzie did to her, did to all of them. He turned back to the computer, not doing anything at first. Owen then pulled up another round of tests he had done on the children's blood cells, looking to change the subject from former Torchwood second-in-command, Suzie Costello.

"Look at their blood cells. They've mutated. What I am saying is their blood cells, their lymphocytes, are similar to Jack's. They have been exposed to temporal misplacement, and something else. It's almost a metallic substance, but it seems to have no other reason other than to track someone with it." 

Before Owen could say anything else, an alarm went off at Tosh's computer. Ianto quickly moved to the computer and pulled up the report. He clacked away, pulling up a map of the City Centre, where a location was pinpointed. Owen stood up as a police report began to scroll across the bottom of the screen.

"What is it, Ianto?" Jack asked as he came out of his office, rolling down the sleeves on his light blue shirt. Tosh followed behind him.

Owen found himself wondering when Tosh had gotten back to the Hub. At least she looked more rested than he felt. She also looked impeccable in brown trousers and a yellow blouse. He marvelled at how together she seemed as he pulled down his blue shirt over his jeans and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"According to the police, a code nine-two-B occurred at 9:20 this morning."

"Nine-two-B?" Owen asked.

"Building missing, or in this case, part of the building is missing."

"Did it just walk away?" Tosh asked as she moved Ianto aside and started pulling up the information.

"Not exactly. According to witnesses, there was a bright flash of light, some unknown sounds, but not a lot, and then the entire hotel lobby, with everyone in it just disappeared. A clean cut. No jagged metal or ruined stonework." Ianto nodded at the screen Tosh was working on.

"Sounds like a transport to me," Jack said.

"Tosh, just what hotel is it?" Owen was glued to his spot. He had a bad feeling about this, and he should know enough to trust his gut.

Tosh pushed her glasses up her nose and peered at the screen. "It's the Royal Park Plaza." She peered at the screen and then back at the men. "Part of it is missing."

Owen could feel his insides turn to stone. Too many weird things were happening at once and they all involved their children. Jack shot Owen an unblinking look. Owen nodded his head slightly and then Jack jumped into command mode.

"Owen, grab what you need, we need to see what is missing and there might be people injured. We don't know what the police are not telling us. Ianto, call Gwen and tell her to meet us there pronto. Tosh, I need to know if there has been any unusual activity in the atmosphere or if it was a long-range teleport. If it is long-range we have a whole other set of problems to deal with." Jack pulled out his earpiece and put it on. "Let's go, I want to be gone five minutes ago."

Owen snapped to action, letting Dr. Torchwood take over his body. He rushed down to autopsy to gather a couple of things he knew were missing from the medical kit. In the meantime, he couldn't help but wonder if any of the children of Torchwood were taken in that transport.


	23. Chapter 23

Samantha stretched with her eyes still closed, her elbows hitting the arm of the settee. Sure, it pulled out to a bed, but she had been too tired and too lazy last night. She ruffled up her hair and smacked her dry tongue and lips. Elizabeth had said she would be back in fifteen minutes. If that was fifteen minutes, it was the deepest fifteen-minute sleep she had had in a long time.

Samantha fumbled around for her mobile and found it on the floor next to the settee. She brought it up to her face and hit a random button, making the display screen light up. She squinted at the time and saw that it was 9:35. She put it down on the coffee table and sat up. It had been 50 minutes since Elizabeth left. Something felt off. She had been woken up, but by what? Slipping on her wire-framed glasses while still lying down, she thought back to the weird dream she had been having. That hadn't been it. Then suddenly it clicked.

Samantha swore she had heard Elizabeth. She had heard Elizabeth scream in her head, but the girl was nowhere to be found. Samantha stood up and looked around the room for any sign that Elizabeth had come back. She saw nothing of Elizabeth's, like her bag for instance. 

Her mind suddenly flashed to an incident in college when Elizabeth had been wasted, and they had left her snuggled up in the hotel room. Falling asleep in another friend's room, Samantha had heard Elizabeth cry out for her. No one else had heard it. Going back to check on Elizabeth, Samantha found her passed out but almost suffocating herself when she apparently shifted in her stupor. Samantha moved the girl around and then stayed in their room, watching infomercials for most of the night.

Samantha ran into the bedroom she shared with Lynnae and proceeded to trip over David's big boots. If the boy could have any bigger feet she would be surprised. Falling against the desk, the noise she made woke David up and he just glared at her from her bed. She tore open the little hotel wardrobe and grabbed her jeans. 

Dropping her shorts where she stood, she heard David mumble something about "too early for a striptease," but she ignored it. 

She tugged on her jeans and buttoned them up. She grabbed a long-sleeved red shirt from the closet and tossed it on over her gray t-shirt. She plopped onto Lynnae's bed, a roll of socks in hand and hurriedly put them on her feet. She felt a pillow hit the back of her head but paid it no mind.

In the main room of the suite, Samantha grabbed her key card from where she had tossed it the night before and shoved it into the pocket of her jeans. She then picked up her black boots and was out the door and down by the lift before the door finished closing on its own.

Waiting for the lift to make its merry way up to her, Samantha leaned against the wall and worked her way into her boots. As she bent over to tie them up she could have sworn she felt the building move. Chalking it up to her excitable imagination, Samantha whirled around as she heard the bell ding and the lift doors open.

She would later consider herself lucky that her brain seemed to recognize the blackness and she grabbed at the sides of the door, one foot hanging in mid-air. The lift was gone. In its place was a gaping, dark hole. Samantha maneuvered herself back and stood on solid ground again. She cautiously peered over the edge and saw some light way, way down the shaft, but nothing else. She could hear people shouting down there.

Letting the doors close, Samantha ran for the stairs and flew down them, heading for the lobby and some answers. She only hoped she would run into Elizabeth along the way. As she hit the third floor landing, someone below yelled at her to stop. She slowed down her pace and stopped at the second floor landing.

"What's happened?" she asked breathlessly, her flight finally catching up to her.

"You can't go out this way, there's been damage to the building." The man speaking to her wore the burgundy and gray uniform of the Royal Park Plaza.

"What kind of damage?" Her mind raced with varying degrees of damage and injuries, each one worse than the one before. 

"I'm sorry. You will need to evacuate the building on the other side. That one area is still secure. We need to evacuate everyone before any more damage is sustained." 

Samantha swore she felt a shift under her feet and pushed past the employee. He grabbed her by the arm as she looked down the stairs to nothing. What lay beyond the missing staircase was the bedrock and limestone they were built on. Nothing else remained. She could see the flashing lights of emergency vehicles beyond the perimeter of the building as they flashed through the cavernous opening. As if some big knife had just sliced away the lobby, like a surgeon would remove a tumor.

"Oh my God," Samantha uttered. She looked back at the employee and could see the fear in his eyes as well. "What happened?"

"We don't know. But the rest of this hotel is only standing because of an access hallway and series of vents and pipes on the far side of the building. You need to evacuate now."

"My friend was in there. She went down to the lobby a bit ago, oh God." Samantha turned back to the vacant, void space where Elizabeth was last known to be.

"If she was still in the lobby area when it disappeared, then I am sorry to tell y–" 

"Tell me what? Don't you dare tell me she's dead." Samantha grabbed the employee's hand that was still holding on to her arm.

"I just know that all the employees that were in the lobby have not been heard from and none of their radios or mobiles seem to work. Please, please leave the building. You can cut across to the other stairwell on three." They pulled their hand away from Samantha and pointed up the stairs. 

Samantha took one last parting look at the empty darkness, despite the sun outside and then started running up the stairs. As she passed through the third floor landing the employee yelled at her.

"Where are you going? You need to leave!"

"I have other friends upstairs!" Samantha never took so many flights of stairs so fast in all her life. She burst through the door into the hallway on Floor 17 and sprinted for the door to their suite, all the while trying to remind herself to breathe.

Rifling through her pocket, Samantha pulled out the key card, fumbling with it at the door. A moment later she slid it in and then out of the little opening. The green light flashed on and she ripped open the door, hurrying into Jillian's bedroom. She ripped the covers off Jillian and the woman awoke with a start.

"What is it? What's going on?" Jillian sat up in bed, already sliding on the slippers that she kept next to the bed.

"Get dressed and get any stuff you absolutely need, we have to get out of the building." Samantha’s throat was dry and she was heaving in big gulps of air from the running.

Jillian looked as if she was about to protest, but one look at Samantha had her heading for the wardrobe and pulling out a pair of gray trousers. It was as if she could read Samantha's mind and understand how severe this was. Samantha nodded at Jillian and then went to duck into the other bedroom. Jillian stopped her before she left.

Jillian looked over at Elizabeth's empty bed. "Where's Beth?" Her brown eyes seemed impossibly wide as she looked back at Samantha.

"I don't know. Something happened to the building and to Beth at the same time." Samantha choked down her fears, feeling them clawing at her throat making her want to scream and shout. But first, she had to get the others to safety before she completely lost her mind. "The lobby is gone and so are the people that were in it."

"And Beth?" Jillian stepped forward, one hand holding a dark green top, the other hand grasping out and holding Samantha's right hand.

"I don't know." Samantha blinked her eyes, pushing the tears back. She was terrified. Her soul was terrified. It felt like they had turned a corner when they got to Wales, but she did not understand why.

Jillian squeezed her hand and then let it go, slightly pushing Samantha towards the door. She undid her pajama top and slid on her bra, then the blouse as she started walking around the room, making a small pile of stuff on the end of the bed. Samantha turned on her heel and charged through the main room into the other bedroom.

Flipping on the light switch she shouted at David and Lynnae. "Get up. Get your asses up and get dressed!"

David seemed to jump while still in the bed and then looked at her like she was some wild animal. Maybe he was right. There was a primal need in her to protect them and to save Elizabeth, wherever she may be. Samantha said a quick prayer to her mother to watch out for Elizabeth and then she smacked Lynnae hard on the legs.

"Get up! You need to get your asses up, get dressed and grab what you need to, including your computers. Now!"

"Are you fucking kidding me," David asked.

"No. Something has happened and we need to get out of this hotel now," Samantha stated.

"Is it those guys from last night?" Lynnae asked sitting up in bed.

"No, but I wish it was."

"What guys? What happened last night?" David asked as he stood up. "You left a note saying you were going somewhere–"

"That has nothing to do with this." Samantha interrupted him, picking up Lynnae's boots and throwing them at the girl who caught them while still in bed. "Fine. You want to know? The building is about to fall down with us in it and Elizabeth is missing." Samantha could not bring herself to mutter the words that Elizabeth might be dead.

Samantha did not know if it was Lynnae being worried about Elizabeth or if the woman had just remembered that they were on the 17th floor of a hotel that was about to disintegrate under them, but whatever she had said made the girl jump up and get dressed in less than a minute. Samantha was amazed how quickly Lynnae pulled on a pair of black jeans, black t-shirt, blue top and put her hair up in a bun. Whenever she wanted to, Lynnae could get in and out of her clothes in a flash.

Samantha went over to the desk and grabbed her laptop bag. It held her computer, extra flash drives, her latest Jack Jones manuscript, along with her passport, spare money, and emergency phone numbers. She ran into the main room and grabbed her backpack. Sliding into the bedroom, she emptied the contents onto her bed, which David had hurriedly vacated. Samantha stuffed in another pair of jeans, two t-shirts, some socks and clean underwear, because heaven help her if something happened to her and she had no clean underwear. Her grandmother would be yelling at her even in the afterlife. She grabbed another long-sleeve shirt and then shoved the two notebooks she always carried, pens, pencils, flashlight, travel mug, contacts, her spare wallet with cash and cards, and her small jewelry box with her. 

Looking up she saw Lynnae had packed the same. The two women nodded and headed into the main room where Jillian stood with her carryall bulging, a sweater visible on top of it, and another satchel. Samantha looked down at the satchel and then at Jillian, knowing Jillian usually fit her laptop, and most everything else, inside that carryall.

"Elizabeth's stuff, including her favorite pendant. Just in case," Jillian said, her voice cracking at the end.

"Let's go then," Lynnae said as she opened the door to the suite. "David! Let's go!"

David made some kind of grunt as he finished shoving his laptop into its place and turned around from the main table. He grabbed his leather coat and slung it over his shoulder. "Ready when you are," he said as he exited the door, a blur of deep denim jeans and brown t-shirt.

Jillian grabbed Elizabeth's satchel and followed behind him. Samantha went to exit, but suddenly she remembered and darted back over to the coffee press. She opened it and dumped out the memory card, shoving that into her jeans pocket. Lynnae and Samantha exchanged a look as she hurried out the door to David and Jillian, knowing Lynnae was behind her.

"We need to take the far stairs, it's the only stable part of the building," Samantha said as she brushed past the other two and made a beeline for the stairs. She would get them out and they would find out what happened to Elizabeth, if it was the last thing she ever did. And something told her that the strange group known as Torchwood would know what had taken Elizabeth, and she was ready to go to the police to protect her, no matter what it took.


	24. Chapter 24

David wriggled his way into a corner of the Starbucks that was around the corner from the hotel. It seemed like a lot of people had taken refuge from the hotel in that particular coffee shop. He pulled out his monster laptop and found a corner of a table to prop it up on.

"Good morning lover," his laptop purred at him. Two nearby ladies gave him odd looks. David shrugged his shoulders and started pulling up his mainframe data search.

"I thought you were changing that to something less sexist," Jillian admonished him.

"Where's the fun in that? Barbarella and I understand each other." David stroked the top of his laptop screen. "Shhh… baby, don't listen to the feminist. I still love you."

Jillian rolled her eyes and tucked her carryall under the table as Lynnae plopped down in the last available chair next to David. She tugged her laptop out of the blue bag she always carried it in and placed it next to his. He let out a sigh as she opened it and the screen popped out of sleep mode, revealing a multitude of widgets that took up the entire screen.

"No other seats?" Samantha asked as she stumbled over to their table, falling over people's feet and bags. She dropped her backpack and laptop bag next to Jillian's carryall.

"Wait a minute and I might be able to pull one out of my ass," David replied as he stared at his computer and started typing away. He peered at the screen, leaning in despite the fact that it was a 17-inch screen.

"I don't like that look. You always scare me with that intense look," Jillian stated.

"What intense look?" David muttered as he opened a secondary panel on his laptop and pulled up the main internal network for the Cardiff Police Department.

"The look you got when you hunted down the guy that damaged your precious Mustang. You used the parking garage security cameras to find him, then paid him back by hacking into his company's firewall and making it look like he embezzled funds from work." Samantha sighed. "You made it look like he used said funds to get a plethora of prostitutes." 

Jillian glared at David so strongly he could feel it. David looked across his laptop and shrugged his shoulders at her as he continued to work his way through the internal workings of the local police department.

"He never did it again. Fucking idiot, it was a fucking poker game, and he goes all bonkers." David peered at Lynnae's laptop and at the updates scrolling across the bottom of the screen. "What do you have there?"

"News feed from the local media. Spock here is set to pick up local news and send it to the laptop if there are any alerts. I'm also trying to break into the security system of the hotel." She clicked away barely looking up. 

"Ah padawan, I have taught you well," David responded as he bypassed one of the police security protocols.

"You two are amazing, and very scary sometimes," Samantha said as she returned to their table, putting down a couple bottles of water. "Especially after last night, you should keep up on fluids."

"Aye-aye doc," David retorted as he bypassed another security protocol, idly wondering just how he had missed Samantha leaving. "What is the camera system the government uses here called again?"

"CCTV," Jillian supplied as she dropped her chin into her palms and held her head up on her arms.

"Thank you!" David clicked away and started to pull up images from local camera feeds. "GPS of the hotel would be– Oh you fucking cunt!"

Several older ladies "tut-tutted" at them and the one at the table right next to them kept shooting him dirty looks.

"Well sorry –" David started to say when he looked back down at his screen, seeing someone shove him out of the police department's servers. "Mother-loving cocksucking thimbledick!"

The petite, gray-haired woman next to them clutched her oversized green handbag to her body. David ignored her as he hacked his way back into the city's servers. He was knocking down firewall after firewall when someone suddenly blocked him on a simple technical assault.

"You diseased, ass-humping, fucking bastard."

"Sorry ma'am," Jillian said as she turned to the woman. "We were staying in the hotel around the corner and cannot find our other friend who was there with us."

"Well, I am sorry about that," the woman said. "But there are families present and the young man should watch his language."

"Right, sorry," Jillian said and then turned back to David, mouthing who knew what.

David took a deep breath and clicked away, hacking into the CCTV mainframe. He would get close and then would be shut out. Two seconds of footage would start to play in his screen and then go black or act like the feed was yanked, even when he went to earlier in the day hours before the incident happened. It finally got to be too much for him.

"Fucking balls of blue–" Suddenly a hand was clamped over his mouth and he was casting the mother of all evil glares at Samantha as she was straddled across the small, round café table they had appropriated.

"I'm so sorry, so really sorry," Jillian was saying to the gray-haired old biddy.

David barely looked at his computer and activated the voice reader with two clicks. He then typed in "Let go of my face unless you want your fucking hand broken," and "Barbarella" verbalized it so Samantha could hear it.

"Keep your mouth shut then," Samantha chided.

"I'll show you how to keep your mouth shut," Barbarella responded.

"Brilliant covert ops, asshole," Samantha said low enough so only David could hear.

David's arm snapped up and his right hand encircled Samantha's wrist pinching it tight. She struggled against him and he held tight, a menacing glint in his eye. She wrenched her hand away from his mouth but he still pinched her wrist between his fingers. Suddenly Lynnae's hand smacked their two hands apart.

"Hey! Listen you two, this is not helping us find Beth!" Lynnae lightly smacked David on the cheek and went to do the same to Samantha, but the other girl fell back onto her feet with a table separating them. "I am having trouble hacking into the security system too, like something is blocking us."

"That's what it seemed like, but I couldn't figure out who," David responded, holding his cheek. The slap did not hurt, but it was the fact that Lynnae, freaking Lynnae, had slapped him.

"Why don't Sam and I go talk to the police and put Beth's name on the list of the missing while you and Jillian keep trying to find out what happened?" Lynnae looked at the other three.

"Fine. Fucking fine." David turned back to his laptop and continued to work his way through the police database and ignore the slanted look Jillian gave him.

Lynnae and Jillian squeezed past each other as Jillian took over Lynnae's seat and laptop. Lynnae grabbed Samantha by the arm and dragged her through the ever-expanding crowd and out into the overcast but warm day. David looked over at Jillian and then typed into the vocal reader program.

"Hey sexy, come here often," Barbarella said aloud.

Jillian groaned and then cracked her neck and started typing away. David allowed himself one brief smile and then went back to work. For as crass and uncaring he may seem sometimes, he cared about these girls more than he would ever dare tell them. What they had done for him once upon a time, that saved his soul, and his life, but that part he could never tell them. For that he would do whatever it was that was needed to keep them safe. Now, he had to find Elizabeth and keep the others out of harm's way.


	25. Chapter 25

Ianto opened the boot of the SUV and handed off one of the big shiny, metal cases to Owen, who already had his black bag slung over his left shoulder. Ianto tugged out a heavier metal case and placed that on the ground next to the vehicle. He looked over at Jack who had the casing of his brown leather wrist strap open and was ticking buttons with his right hand as he kept his left wrist and the strap perpendicular to the building.

"Find anything?" Ianto said as he stepped up next to Jack. 

Jack looked back at Ianto with his eyes only, and then back at the building. "Not much that makes sense yet." He then snapped the wrist strap shut and turned his whole body to Ianto.

"Early reports are estimating approximately 20-50 people inside the lobby at the time of disappearance." Ianto looked down at his specialized PDA. To most people it looked like an ordinary Blackberry, but with it, he could run scans, connect to the mainframe back in the Hub, and communicate with Tosh if he needed to. He also had a tracking system on the SUV that fed into the PDA and a couple of other programs he had not bothered to tell the others about yet.

"Sounds like a hell of a lot of maybes," Owen said as he pulled himself from the back seat of the SUV where he had been conversing with Tosh as she worked on the mobile computer unit they had in the back of the vehicle.

"More than I like," Jack stated as he pulled out a pair of aviator sunglasses from the pocket of his coat and slipped them on. "Start at triage. See how we can be of help to any victims, and scan everyone to see if they are giving off any non-human signatures."

"Got it, but I haven't seen many reports of survivors yet." 

Owen headed off towards the main area of commotion on the west side of the hotel, his head down. Ianto could see Gwen come running up to him, her dark hair flying out behind her. He was unsure of what they discussed, but then she came running over to Jack and himself.

"Jack, I got here as soon as I could. What happened?" Her shoulders dropped as she tried to catch her breath. She had dressed smartly for the day, wearing black boots, dark jeans and purple t-shirt under her coat.

Jack stalked back to the team's black Range Rover and stood next to the open door as Tosh worked her magic with the computer systems and the government. Ianto quickly heaved out a third, square metal case from the boot and then slammed it shut. He handed the bigger one to Gwen and placed the other case next to Jack's boots.

"How's it looking, Tosh," Jack asked, leaning up against the open door, still staring at the hotel, or so Ianto thought.

"I already had the footage from CCTV pulled and wiped clear and then had already grabbed the footage from the hotel security cameras and all the information from their internal databases." She paused and hit a couple more keystrokes. "Now," she said in an exasperating tone, "I am trying to block the attention seekers. Most of them were taken care of on the way over here, and one is a certain newspaper reporter that I think just got the message."

Tosh made a couple of more keystrokes and grimaced at the computer. "There are two that are still at it." She hit two more keys. "Very persistent. In fact, I have been able to track one of them for sure to the Starbucks around the corner from the hotel." She let out a groan and hit three more keys. "I am also filtering the normal reports, etcetera."

Jack let out a sigh and then picked up the metal case from by his feet. He turned to Gwen who had been standing there patiently, holding her case in front of her with both hands during Tosh's report. He then nodded at the building as Ianto put a hand on his hip, pushing out his grey jacket.

"Tosh, keep up the good work and keep us up to date on any new leads. Continue the other atmospheric scans and see if you can pick up any residual disturbances here at the site." Jack tilted his head to the sky, his neck muscles taut, as were probably many of his other muscles when things like this happened. 

"Gwen and I will collect samples and talk to the police. See what information we can find and what other information we need to appropriate," Jack said. "Ianto, you will see how you can be of assistance to the emergency personnel and find out if the building can be shored up. Then, you will take the info from Tosh and see if you can put a face to our inquisitive friend or friends in Starbucks." 

Jack barely nodded his head and stalked off towards the decimated building. Gwen hurried up behind him, still following like a lost puppy. Ianto scurried around the vehicle to the passenger side of the back seat and opened that door. He exchanged a wry grin with Tosh and then plucked up his gun, and tucked it into an inner pocket of his jacket.

"I'll send you the current data," Tosh said as she went back to thwarting whoever was still attempting to try and break through her firewalls. Too bad they didn't realize that was never going to happen and do them all a favor and give up. "If Barbarella and Spock would just leave me alone." She nearly growled at the computer as she hit two more keys.

Ianto rolled his eyes and held his PDA. "Don't worry about it Tosh. They shouldn't be too hard to find, even over there." He closed the vehicle door and walked around the boot, typing in some figures of his own.

"Ianto?"

He looked up and saw Tosh leaning out the door. He strode over next to her. "What is it?"

"Do you think… do you think any of them were in there?" 

Without having to ask he knew whom she was referring to. It was rare for anyone ever involved with Torchwood to live past the age of 30, much less have a family or children. He was afraid to admit it, but as much as what Owen told them had freaked the holy hell out of him, there was a small part of his heart that wanted it to be true more than anything in the universe.

"I don't know Tosh, but we'll find out," Ianto stated as he quickly grasped her knee.

She gave him that small Toshiko smile of hope he adored seeing on her face and then he gave her knee a small squeeze. He turned and headed for the hotel, hearing the door slam behind him.


	26. Chapter 26

Lynnae pushed her glasses up with her index finger as she turned around, trying to hurry Samantha along. Suddenly she found herself stumbling into a bush along the walkway as Samantha tackled her shoulders, shoving her to the side and turning their backs to the walkway.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lynnae hissed at her. "We keep getting close this trip, but if you want to keep that up, there are better ways to do it, and more fun ways, too."

"Shut it." She leaned in to Lynnae to whisper in her ear. "There are two of them behind us."

"Two of who?"

"Torchwood."

Lynnae wheeled around Samantha and peered into the crowd of officials and police. "Where do you see them?"

"Over there, carrying the two metal cases. Mr. Congeniality and Miss Goody Two Shoes of the almighty Torchwood." Samantha turned around and crossed her arms across her chest.

"They are involved then," Lynnae stated. She didn't like this, not at all. Those people being here made her even more nervous about what was happening. As if things weren't odd enough on their own. Lynnae let out a sigh. "We should talk to the police."

"And just what do we tell them?" Samantha said as she turned her back to the hotel, her head in her left hand.

"Tell them anything, as long as we stop looking like idiots with something to hide." Lynnae put her hand on Samantha's shoulder and physically turned the girl around towards the building. "They can't do anything to us out in public."

"You're right. And they didn't want us to go to the police at all last night."

"Exactly." Lynnae started heading towards a group of policemen at a fast pace. "First, let's report Beth missing and then decide if we start implicating Torchwood in the destruction."

There was a trio of young officers about thirty feet in front of them. They all wore the uniform of the Cardiff police force, two of them even had their caps on. Normally Lynnae and Samantha would have been getting all hot and bothered about a group of boys in uniform, but for once sex was the farthest thing from their minds.

Lynnae ducked under the caution tape, Samantha behind her. They immediately caught the attention of the officer without a cap on his head, especially since he was the one facing them. He had a cute mop of curly dishwater blonde hair and a patch number of 186 on his left sleeve. Lynnae found herself wondering if that was a badge number or a precinct number. It seemed too high to be a precinct number, and it seemed really low to be a badge number, unless it was one of those that had been used by the same family, officer to officer over the years. Lynnae found herself cursing out Samantha for making her know this stuff for her novels and what not.

"Excuse me mates," Blondey said as he passed between the other two officers up to the two girls. "Just what are you doing?" He asked Lynnae and Samantha.

Lynnae did not like the way he had said mates to them and really wanted to let him know that, but one thought of Elizabeth and she squelched that intent. She tried to pull herself up to her full height, but her smaller stature seemed to mean nothing against the officer.

"We need to talk to you actually," Lynnae replied.

"About what?" the officer said as he stood his ground between them and the building. He kept his arms slightly out making his body as big as he could to stop both of them from entering the crime scene any more.

Lynnae smiled inwardly. This guy was good, really good. She wondered how new he was to be a beat officer. Wait. Here they called them constables. Although, she had met some older officers who preferred to stay on the beat. Lynnae really hated Samantha right now. If the woman had not dragged Lynnae along on so many research runs and sat there talking incessantly about all the branches of law enforcement for the Jack Jones books, and other characters… She cursed, under her breath and both Blondey and Samantha seemed to notice. 

Samantha stepped forward. "Our friend, Beth, was most likely inside the lobby when it disappeared."

The officer blanched slightly. "Most likely? What do you mean by most likely?" He cocked his head.

"Five of us had a suite on the 17th floor. Beth is the only one not accounted for and before she left this morning she said she was going to get some coffee from the lobby." Samantha put her hands on her hips and jutted out her chest. "She has not contacted any of us since she left and if she saw this happen she would not leave us in the dark."

After over ten really close years of being best buds, Lynnae could hear the tremble in Samantha's voice. The girl had not cracked when her mom passed away, and would probably not crack now, not until later. When Samantha finally crashed, it could be bad.

The policeman looked at them and then back at the other two officers. He pulled out a little notebook from a pocket on his shirt and pulled out a pen. "Full name of your friend?"

"Elizabeth Marie Murphy." Lynnae said as they watched him scribble it down.

"Right. Birthdate?" He looked up at them. "And reason for being in Cardiff?"

"March 20, 1977," Lynnae rattled off.

"We were on a group vacation," Samantha supplied. "The five of us were touring Scotland, England, and Wales."

"How long have you been in the country," He asked, writing down the last information.

"Wales or England as a whole?" Lynnae put her hands on her own hips. She hated this questioning. She understood the reasoning for it, but still hated it.

"England, or both if you wish." The officer looked them both straight in the eyes.

"We've been in England about 3 weeks," Samantha said. "We've been in Wales for five days as of today." Samantha stuffed her hands into the pockets of her coat, closing it around her.

"Right. Elizabeth Marie Murphy, born March 20, 1977, and there were five of you, but she went down to the lobby for coffee before something happened to the lobby."

"It was taken. The whole lobby was taken. We're not blind," Samantha quipped.

"We don't know that," Blondey said.

Samantha let out a very audible groan and Lynnae shot her a look. Samantha went to say something, but closed her eyes and took a breath. Lynnae pushed her quivering stomach down as the full ramifications of what had happened were dawning on her. Because of the amount of safety personnel already there, she had not fully seen the building, or what had happened to it. Samantha's choice of the word taken scared her, it actually scared her.

"What were the other four of you doing?" he questioned.

"They were passed out, I had kind of woken up," Samantha said, her voice even. "We had a bout of food poisoning from a small café not far from here yesterday."

"Was that Rosemary and Thyme? We had a report yesterday. You weren't the only ones. It's been shut down for a couple of days until they clear up what happened in that kitchen. Now, since you've been in country, have you upset anyone or is there anyone that might want to harm you?" The officer looked at them expectantly.

"Is there someone who would be mad enough at us to steal part of a building? Are you kidding me?" Samantha leaned in towards Blondey as she nearly spat out the question.

"I have to ask since we don't know who or what did this," Blondey stated, nonplussed at her behavior.

"You make it sound like we pissed off some group and they decided to punish a bunch of people just to get back at us. Who the hell could do something like that?" Samantha crossed her arms across her chest.

Just then, Lynnae and Samantha noticed Miss Goody Two Shoes exiting the building and stopping to talk to another official. Lynnae could feel her heart race. She glanced over at Samantha and saw a flush creeping up the girl's very pissed off looking face. They looked at each other and the same thought seemed to pop into their heads at the same time. There was one group that could possibly pull off something like this, but they didn't know what they had ever done to them. Sure, she fell on one of them, but was that enough to steal a building like Carmen Sandiego?

"She was there. Goody Two Shoes was at the restaurant yesterday," Samantha stammered out.

"And we all got sick," Lynnae finished off.

"Oh my God! It is them!" 

Lynnae could feel her hands wanting to make fists as she fought off the urge to chase down the woman. The police officer looked at both of them, slipping the notepad back into his shirt pocket. There was a tenseness around all three of them suddenly as the realization hit both girls as they fully remembered.

"You need to tell me what's going on," he stated. "If you know who might have done this I need to know."

Lynnae took a breath and then softly said, "That woman over there. She was one of a group of people who tried poisoning us, several times, in the last couple of days."

He took a look around the people surrounding them. "Which woman?"

"The one in the black leather coat and the purple shirt, over there," Samantha jutted her chin toward Gwen. "They called themselves Torchwood and tried poisoning us twice and were at the restaurant the other day when we all got sick."

The officer stared at Gwen. Lynnae was impressed that she finally remembered the woman's name. Well, she should since she kept prattling on while they waited for Elizabeth to get better. She figured she found out a lot more about Gwen Cooper's life– Aha! Cooper! It was all coming back to them.

"Torchwood you say," he muttered. He seemed to turn pale as he stared at Gwen. "How did they poison you?"

"They drugged us with something the day before last," Lynnae said, moving next to the officer. "It made us forget a whole day, plus more. We ran into two more of them last night and they tried to drug us again, but we made them think we drank it. The other guy, the one in a long gray coat, walked with her into the building."

"Damn Mulder," he mumbled under his breath. "I need you two to stay here, and talk to no one but me, you got that?"

"Okay. What's going on?" Lynnae peered up at him.

"I am going to settle this and find out if Torchwood is behind what happened. Do not tell anyone else yet," Blondey said as he started heading towards Gwen.

"And you are again?" Samantha quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Police Constable Andy Davidson," he said as he was swallowed up by a small crowd that ran past them towards the building.

"Should we stay?" Samantha looked straight at Lynnae.

"Maybe," Lynnae said shrugging her shoulders. "What else can we do?"

"I think he knows her."

"So do I."

"Is it safe then?"

"It can't get any worse can it?"

The other two officers were suddenly in front of them as massive radio chatter could be heard squawking from the radios on their shoulders. They started moving them behind the caution tape.

"What's going on?" Samantha tried to stay her ground, but suddenly some more safety personnel went running towards the building and the officers used that distraction to move them back.

"The structure's failing. You need to get back. Now!"

Lynnae and Samantha lurched across the walkway and stood by the bushes, apart from the building. In the air could be heard a creaking. Lynnae reached out and put her hand on Samantha's shoulder, banking on the mutual support, hoping they could both keep each other calm just through their touch.

"Push back!" They could hear a couple of people shouting and were swallowed up in a small mob that found its way to the street, and a small distance from the hotel. Ahead of them, several officers and other safety personnel suddenly came sprinting from the wreckage as a roar could be heard.

Lynnae looked skyward at the roar, not sure what to expect, but something did not feel right. The roar got louder and could be felt around them. The air seemed to shake as several cracks could be seen zig-zagging up the wall of the hotel. Ahead of them the hotel corners started to crumble and then the building collapsed. Brick upon brick shattering to the ground, a cloud of dust and debris rising up in the air like some malevolent spirit.

Samantha and Lynnae grabbed each other's arms and ducked, their backs to the building. They could feel some of the grit hit their faces, and started to choke on the dirt that was released into the air. Coughing with one hand up to her face, Lynnae peered back at the open sky where the hotel they had been in that morning used to stand. She silently hoped Elizabeth was anywhere but stuck in that. As she held the tears at bay at how close it could have been for all of them, Lynnae wondered just where in the world was Elizabeth Murphy?


	27. Chapter 27

Gwen came running up to the SUV, her heart racing. She needed to find Jack. They had a real problem on their hands, and things just kept escalating where their children were concerned. 

Ahead of her she saw Owen pop out of the driver's seat of the SUV as the back driver's side door opened and Tosh looked at her. Owen caught her mid stride.

"Are you okay? Where the hell have you been?" Owen took her by the arm and led her back by the SUV, brushing dirt off her sleeves.

"I'm okay," Gwen said. "It was close, but Andy, Andy actually pulled me out of the way in time." Gwen had been so surprised by what he was asking her, both of them had barely heard the alert come over his radio, but when they did, they ran. And Andy had pulled her in what would turn out to be the right direction for safety. She owed him, and it was because of that she had gone back with him to find Lynnae and Samantha and to talk with them.

Neither woman had been too talkative at first, although, she couldn't blame them. It's not like she was the most trusting of Torchwood when she first met them, and the whole trying to poison them thing. God! Getting Andy to believe that it was not poison had been utter bollocks. And it wasn't like she could actually tell him what the retcon was. Amnesia pills weren't that far up from poison.

She sucked in her breath as her arm smarted from a cut that Owen was now prodding. She pulled her arm away from him, and pushed her hair back from her forehead.

"Where's Jack? I need to talk to Jack," she said looking around the SUV.

"He's not here right now," Owen said as he grabbed Gwen's arm again and wiped it off with a cloth and slammed a plaster down across the cut. "Like you, he didn't make it back in time. Unlike you, he may have not gotten to safety in time. He looked a little rumpled."

"Oh no, where is he?" She automatically held her arm to her.

"Checking on Ianto at the Starbucks," Tosh supplied, typing away on the keyboard that was available in the SUV. "Oh, and so you guys know, I think you’re right Owen, I don't think Jack made it out of the blast. I was monitoring all communications and two workers talked about how this ‘one guy' pushed them out to safety and then after the collapse they saw him again. Said he had found an air bubble in the rubble."

"Brilliant," Owen muttered as he tromped back to the vehicle.

"I really need to talk to Jack, I think we may have a problem," Gwen stated as she walked over and leaned up against the back quarter panel, next to Tosh.

"Oh no!" Tosh leaned in close to the computer screen. "One of them was in there. Elizabeth Murphy has just been listed as one of the missing."

"Bloody hell! That's what I was afraid of," Owen said, peering between the two front seats into the back and at the girls.

"That's part of what I need to talk to Jack about." Gwen was looking right at Tosh, her eyes very serious looking.

"Just what do you need to talk to me about?" Jack asked as he sidled up to her.

Gwen kept herself from jumping where she stood. Jack had this thing about him that just made her so, so able to fall under his influence, but he also infuriated her so much sometimes. She looked around for Ianto and saw him moving around the back end of the SUV and slide into the back seat next to Tosh. She was really glad that they were all okay.

"We need to talk… about… about our… children," Gwen stammered out. It still felt really weird to say the word children in reference to Torchwood.

"Yes we do," Jack stated, folding his arms across his chest. His very dusty chest and jacket. Gwen found herself really glad that they were all okay.

"I tracked down your little hackers," Ianto said as he pulled out his PDA and showed it to Tosh. "Being there I was able to pinpoint it down to the two that were working together. David Ortiz and Jillian Marsh are the ones trying to break through your software."

"You mean the ones that did. Barbarella actually cracked through my firewall. Had to shut her out and kick her to the kerb." Tosh typed a couple of things. "Was Jillian _Barbarella_?"

"Actually I think David was," Ianto said. "I was able to get right next to them–"

"You did what?" Gwen looked incredulously at Ianto, her eyes getting wider.

"I was sitting right next to them, and even Jack came in. It appears that their retcon is still working," Ianto said. "Well, I think Barbarella is David, his computer said some pretty sexist things in a very feminine voice. I'm rather surprised this one older lady didn't bash him with her bag."

Owen and Tosh looked at each other over the back of the driver's seat. If Gwen remembered correctly, David would have been their son. Her heart suddenly ached at the loss that was theirs. She felt Jack's hand on her shoulder. She instinctively leaned into it.

"What do you need to talk about Gwen," Jack asked.

"I, uh, talked to Lynnae and Samantha," Gwen blurted out before she could be interrupted.

"What? Are you insane," Owen asked.

"No. They told Andy that we had poisoned them and said that we might have been behind the building disappearing and Andy came over and asked me about it, and I said what I could to him, but he insisted I go and talk to the girls, with him there." She could feel her heart beating in her chest.

"So you talked to them? Just what did you say?" Jack said in a very even tone. Gwen hated that tone.

"They thought we had tried poisoning them, and they remembered Ianto and I at the restaurant, and thought we could have done this. I couldn't let them believe that."

"What did you tell them?" Jack asked.

"I told them it wasn't poison. I also told them that we weren't here to harm them. They're the ones hacking in. They are looking for Elizabeth, too. I don't think they're not going to stop until they find her. Jack, what if we let them help?"

"No," Jack said as he opened the driver's door to the SUV and gave Owen a look.

Owen looked at Jack and then sighed and hopped out of the vehicle and walked over to the passenger side. Owen climbed in and looked over at them. Jack looked back at Gwen.

"Jack, you can't be serious."

"Oh, I'm really serious Gwen," Jack stated and then pointed to the back seat. "Get in so we can get back and get this figured out, ourselves."

"No Jack."

"What?"

"Why can't they help?"

Jack moved away from the door and into Gwen's face. "Because. We don't know who they truly are, and we are a secret organisation. We don't invite tour groups in." Jack looked her up and down as she stayed her ground. "What?"

"If we don't know them, then why are we shoving them away so easily? If they are our children, then they can be an asset to us. Have you met _us_ Jack? And if they came from us… They seem pretty smart and are very insistent. If we don't allow them to help, they will only be getting in the way. Admit it Jack." Gwen crossed her arms and glared at Jack.

Next to her Tosh muttered something that sounded like a swear word and furiously clacked a couple of keys. "Jack," Tosh said. "Gwen might have an idea. Otherwise I am going to be spending half my time trying to block them from getting into the systems. They are smart."

Jack looked to each of them. Gwen pleaded with him using her eyes. Tosh continued to block them out on the computer. Owen just shrugged his shoulders and sat back and Ianto shot him an encouraging look. Jack let out a sigh and turned back to Gwen.

"Fine. They can help us, and only for this. We will need to find a place for them to stay because I am not letting them into the Hub." Jack sat down in the driver's seat. "We don't know them at all, good or bad. Some strange things have been happening, and I don't want us to fall victim to some kind of trap, until we know for certain."

"Every test I can do–"

"Then you will find more tests to run Owen. Or we wait until one of us can remember them. Until then, do not trust them completely." Jack started the SUV as Gwen ran around the car to get in by Ianto.

"Thank you Jack," Gwen said as Ianto stepped out and let her slide into the middle of the back seat.

"Yeah, we'll see," Jack muttered as Ianto got in and closed the door. Jack manoeuvred the SUV through the police roadblock.

"There's a flat we can have access to that is in the Atlantic Wharf area, on Hemingway Road. It's about five minutes away from the Plass," Ianto said as he perused his PDA. "I can have it as early as 2:00 this afternoon."

"That'll work," Gwen stated. She stared ahead at the people and quietly wondered if there were other relatives out there she may not know about.


	28. Chapter 28

Samantha hung her head over the now cold cup of coffee. It was so cold she couldn't even smell it anymore, unless she stuck her nose under the lid and nearly in the coffee. She stared straight ahead, looking at the windows to the outside as the rain, which had started about an hour ago, pelted against them.

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at David and Lynnae who sat across from her in the Starbucks. David had not stopped trying to find Beth or find what happened to her since they had left the hotel that morning. Or rather, the now smoldering pile of rubble Samantha kept reminding herself. David tugged at the collar of his brown t-shirt and took a sip of his cold coffee, barely registering it except for the slight grimace on his face, and began to type away again.

Her eyes flicked over to Lynnae who had taken over her Macbook again. About every ten minutes she would get that very frustrated look on her face, snatch her glasses off her face and twirl them in between her thumb and forefinger and then dive right back in, shoving them back on her face and typing away again, a new idea in her head. She had barely touched her short cup of coffee, but had worked through her second bottle of water.

She leaned back and looked at Jillian. Her face was in profile to Samantha, but that was all she needed to see the worry etched into the younger girl's face. Jillian's index finger traced the top of her coffee cup, as she too stared out at the rain and the gray and gloomy outdoors. The only productive things Jillian had been able to do since Lynnae took over the computer again was call Eve and tell her how much she loved her, and to call around for a new hotel room. The only lead she had was to call this one bed and breakfast in about an hour.

Samantha let out a sigh as her right knee began to bob up and down. She gently tapped out a nondescript rhythm against the side of her coffee cup with her fingers. She hated this waiting and not being to do a Goddamn thing. She errantly looked around the coffee shop, especially now that the crowd had diminished. David muttered a swear word, furtively looking up as he typed away and Samantha was glad that the little old lady who had been next to them all morning had finally left. Although, that was not before she had finally whacked David upside the head with her very solid, vinyl handbag.

Looking towards the main door to the café, Samantha fell forward in her chair. Holy crap it couldn't be them again. Suddenly her eyes locked with the brunette's and she saw Miss Goody Two Shoes point over at their table. Oh, she knew her name was Gwen Cooper, but Miss Goody Two Shoes seemed to fit her so much better.

Without taking her eyes off the couple by the door, she pulled out her iPhone and a business card from her pocket. Glancing down at the card, she hurriedly dialed the number and waited for someone to answer. As the operator answered, she very neatly said, "Yes, I'd like to speak to PC Andy Davdison immediately please."

She noticed Lynnae take notice and her head snap up away from the computer. Lynnae shot her a quizzical look and mouthed "What?"

Samantha covered the mobile with her hand. "By the door, Torchwood." She then waited as the operator put her call through.

"PC Davidson," she heard him say on the other end of the line.

"Mr. Davidson, this is Samantha O'Neill," she quickly said. "We talked to you earlier when we reported our friend Elizabeth Murphy missing."

"Yes," Andy said on the other end.

"Well, two of those other people we talked to you about just came into the coffee shop we're in. Miss Cooper and another one we recognize, and they're heading straight for us." 

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jillian sit up and look around, listening in on her conversation. Lynnae closed her computer partway and just stared at Gwen and Ianto. Well at least she had names for them now. Jillian followed Lynnae's glare and looked at the couple as they started making their way towards the group.

"Which coffee shop?" She could hear him rustling some paper on the other end of the phone.

"The Starbucks around the corner from what used to be the hotel."

Across from her, Lynnae tensed up, crossing her arms across her chest and getting a steely gaze on her face. Jillian looked at them confused.

"I'll be right there," Andy said and she could hear the disconnect.

Samantha was not an idiot, at least that's what her aptitude tests always told her. She always ranked rather high on the standardized tests, but it was his body language earlier. Learning to write characters, including their actions, made her recognize body language and attitudes and demeanors in real people. PC Davidson knew Gwen Cooper; that much was obvious. But, where they were worried that would hurt their case, it actually seemed to make him care more and come to their aid, almost like there was something he did not trust about Torchwood. Oh, he trusted Miss Cooper, but not necessarily them, and whomever he kept referring to as "Mulder."

"What's going on," Jillian hissed at them.

Before either Samantha or Lynnae could answer, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones were standing right next to their table. Samantha swore she could feel their body heat, they were that close. Lynnae shot them a look.

"What do you want?" Lynnae turned around in her seat, her arms still crossed.

Samantha saw David hazard a glance at them, then look back down at his computer. Suddenly his head popped back up as he stopped and stared at the two strangers. 

"Dude… you're the couple from the restaurant," David said.

"Um, yeah," Gwen said. 

David pointed at Ianto. "Oh man, you totally got some action last night didn't you? Or did you get food poisoning too?"

"Sure, whatever you say," Ianto replied.

"Oooo.. did she play nurse for you? Mini-skirt and all?"

Before Ianto could answer, Samantha, Lynnae and Jillian all told him to, "Shut up David!"

Gwen put her hand down on the table. "Listen, we want to help you find your friend."

"Really? Why now?" Lynnae sat up straight in her seat.

"We would like you to work with us on this," Gwen replied. It looked like she was choosing her words carefully. 

"Uh, excuse me, just who are these people," Jillian queried.

"People who can help," Ianto supplied.

"Yeah right!" Samantha almost snorted at them. If they wanted to help why had they made them forget? "What's in it for us?"

"We have a flat you can stay in, for free, and we will have our friend stop blocking your attacks on the files, as long as you stay where we can find you and do not go anywhere without our permission." Ianto looked at each of them.

"Wait a minute! Friend?" David gaped at Ianto and then turned on Lynnae. "I told you it couldn't be a program. It followed my erratic flow too easily. If it was a program I would have gotten past it."

"Most of the time it is a rotating program," Jillian supplied.

"But not this time. Man, he's good," David stated.

"She. She's good," Ianto said.

"She? Nice… I would love to meet her," David responded.

"Perhaps you could," Gwen replied.

"Excuse me. You want to put us under house arrest? How is that helping?" Lynnae put both her hands down flat on her thighs and continued to just stare at the Torchwood duo. "I think not."

Samantha noticed Andy enter the coffee shop and spot them. She watched as he moved over to the side and just watched. She felt a bit safer knowing he was there.

"Who are these people?" Jillian asked, her voice wavering. Jillian never liked not knowing what was going on. She even seemed to find out everything, like when they tried throwing her a surprise birthday party two years ago.

"They're the ones who drugged us a couple days ago. The day we can't remember? They can," Samantha supplied, staring down Gwen and Ianto.

"What do you mean they fucking drugged us?" David suddenly sat straight up in his chair looking at Ianto and Gwen. 

Inwardly Samantha smiled as she saw David and Jillian's interest. Oh boy, if they wanted a fight, Torchwood was so screwed now. Normally half of them complained about how wrong the other person's revenge was, but the rare times they all worked together on the exact same person or program? The flying shitstorm left the fan in so many shambles, it couldn't be repaired.

"They drugged us, all of us," Lynnae responded rather smugly. "Beth was attacked and they made us forget what happened."

"Wait a minute," Jillian sat forward in her chair, leaning across the table. "Then how can you remember?"

"I don't know," Lynnae replied. She looked Jillian in the eyes. "There's a lot of things I suddenly don't know and it's scaring the crap out of me."

"You aren't the only one," Samantha said. Something struck at her to the core. She wasn't sure what it was, but she felt so at peace in Cardiff, and had always felt a pull towards the British Isles. She looked at Ianto Jones and regarded him. More than the other day, there was something familiar about him, but she still couldn't put her finger on it, unless they also drugged her while she was in the UK doing research for her last book.

"Why should we help you?" David crossed his arms across his chest and stretched out his legs under the table. He looked at ease, but Samantha knew better. In his eyes was a certain look. He was getting ready to pounce if they didn't give him anything good, and soon.

"What makes you think you're helping us," Gwen replied, shoving her hands deep into her coat pockets.

"You haven't shut me down, so you know I'm good," David said. "And you don't want to let us go, but you are willing to give us even some access to the files and other things. Why should we help you?"

"Because," Ianto stated rather calmly. Samantha was impressed at that calm exterior. "If we find your friend, we will most likely find the other 35 people that were taken with her. That is of vital importance to us, saving everyone we can."

David dropped forward, his arms now on the tabletop, staring down Ianto with the curiosity of a wounded cat. Samantha hated to admit that they had forgotten about the other people in the lobby, but their main priority had been Elizabeth. She let out a deep sigh.

"You're right," Lynnae grumbled. 

"If we help you," Samantha stated, trying to keep the hive of hummingbirds from exploding out of her chest. "You have to tell us what happened that day. We have to know what happened."

"Of course," Gwen responded immediately. "We can show you what happened if you wish."

Ianto shot Gwen a look that Samantha could not interpret, but it reminded her of Jillian's look of "you are evil and wait until I get you alone later." Samantha had been on the receiving end of that one twice and Jillian could be vicious if she wanted to be, even verbally, but only if she had to be.

There was a stare-off between Torchwood and the group of friends. Samantha could physically feel the build up of intense energy. It must have been really measurable, because out of the corner of her eye, she could see PC Davidson push off the counter and take a couple of steps towards them. Samantha knew they would continue to be at an impasse and that would affect helping the other people. But she also knew Lynnae would never admit to it. The girl could be so stubborn sometimes, she almost failed a class because she wouldn't ask for help.

"Fine." Samantha said, nearly spitting out the word. "We'll help you. Where are we staying?"

The other three looked at as if she had turned into Cerberus or something. She was no three-headed dog of death, but what else could they do for now? Ianto pulled out a PDA from his jacket, as she tugged a small notebook from her backpack.

"We can take you there," Ianto stated, looking down at the PDA.

"No. The address or we don't go," Samantha replied just as coolly.

Ianto's eyes flicked up and met hers square on. As he stared at her, and she looked into his eyes, something stirred in her subconscious, but it made her feel weird and conflicted. She quickly squashed any feelings and jutted her chin out at him, tossing him a look of defiance. His shoulders sighed, but he did not. Ianto rattled off the address to them and she quickly wrote it down and tore the sheet out of the notebook.

"Fine then, let's go," Samantha said as she shoved the notebook down into her backpack and picked it up, slinging it over her left shoulder, the badges on it tinkling almost musically. She turned around to Ianto who was staring at her pack. "Be a doll and grab my laptop bag."

Samantha quickly turned before her emotions could betray her and stalked over to PC Davidson. He stood up straight and shot her a questioning look, his hat on the counter next to him.

"What's going on now?" Andy asked.

"We're going with them," Samantha said, her voice wavering a smidge.

"Are you sure about that," Andy asked. "Just earlier you were accusing them of certain things."

"No, we're not sure, but we are limited on where we can stay and how we can help our friend. That's why I want you to hold on to this." Samantha handed over the address Ianto had given them.

"What is this then?"

"The address of the place they have that we can stay at. Do you know it?"

"Aye, good neighborhood." Andy pocketed the paper in his chest pocket, over his heart. He put his hat on his head.

Samantha paused a moment and then blurted out, "Would you trust them?" Samantha looked at him, worry in her eyes. 

Andy let out a sigh and then looked straight at Gwen. He then turned back to Samantha. "Aye. I probably would."

"Okay then," Samantha said as she took his hand. "Thank you." She then let his hand go. "If you don't hear from us by tomorrow morning, please check it out."

"I will," Andy replied as the group started to troop past them. Gwen came closest to them, and shot Andy a quizzical look. He lowered his voice and said to just Samantha, "I will."

Samantha ran to catch up to the group outside and stood in front of a big black SUV. The rain had tapered off to a mist and was spritzing them. Ianto had walked to the street and was calling for a taxi.

"What's going on," Samantha asked.

"We can't all fit in the car," Jillian responded, not even looking at her. "So he's grabbing a taxi for us to go God knows where."

They stood in silence a moment until the cab pulled up to the kerb. Samantha took her laptop bag from Gwen who somehow had gotten it, as Ianto trudged back.

"Some of you can go in the taxi, the rest can go with us."

"No," Lynnae stated.

"We're all riding together," Samantha said.

"Then you can put your things in the SUV," Gwen said encouragingly.

"Hell no," David said.

"We'll all follow you in the taxi," Samantha said as she headed towards the taxi and flashed the cab driver a smile as he opened the trunk. 

She deposited her two bags and then grabbed Elizabeth's bag from Jillian. The rest followed suit. The four of them crawled into the back of the cab, which was able to comfortably accommodate all four of them, way different than the cabs back home in Chicago. Ianto gave the cab driver the address and then hopped into the SUV as Gwen pulled away from the kerb. The silence in the cab was deafening, despite the heavy bass music the driver played.

Finally David spoke up. "Just why the fuck are we going with these assholes if they are so badass to us?"

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. At least now we'll be in their pockets and they might be able to help find Elizabeth." Samantha looked out the window watching the dark buildings of Cardiff flash by. "Our first priority should be to find Beth, then we bring down Torchwood if we need to."


	29. Chapter 29

_He looked down into a set of brilliant blue eyes. His heart barely beating as he held her tight to him, she was this little thing. He knew there was a commotion around him, but he could not discern what was being said, but he knew she had to speak, had to utter some small wail. So much warmth seemed to radiate from her, and yet she did not move._

_"Come on, come on now. Please," he pleaded with her._

_He held her tight with his right hand, willing her to be fine. He brought his left hand up and traced her soft lips, parting them. It was then that her head moved, her baby soft brunette hair shining in the strong lights of the autopsy bay. She let out a massive wail and his heart leapt._

Jack woke up with a start, gripping the sides of his desk chair. In his mind were ghost images of a little baby that quickly vanished into the ether. He let out a deep breath that seemed to come from his deepest core. He struggled to remember the dream he had been having, but it quickly disappeared.

He relaxed his grip on the desk chair and sat forward, breathing in and out. True, he had not slept in days, but it was rare for him to fall asleep at his desk like that, especially when he couldn't remember actually falling asleep. He ran a hand through his hair, tousling it. Whatever dreams had taken up residence were gone, but left him feeling lost and disjointed. He did not like dreams like that, which luckily for him, were few and far between.

Jack pushed himself up and headed for the door to his office, working out the kinks in his muscles as he walked. He put a hand up on the doorjamb and leaned out the open door, looking out at his own small world.

"Tosh! Any word? Did they get them settled into the flat yet?" He stepped forward into the main area of the Hub and dug his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

"They got them in there about an hour ago," Tosh supplied from her workstation, barely looking up as she ran some kind of Rift scan. "Right now Ianto is shopping for food supplies for them."

"Alone? Where's Gwen?" Jack strode forward, hands still in his pockets.

"She's still at the flat, as far as I know," Tosh stated as she turned to a third computer screen, typing away.

"Just great," Jack muttered as inwardly he wondered about the self-preservation his team seemed to be lacking at times. He did not trust them and she left herself alone with four of them. Alone! Brilliant! "Let me know as soon as they check in," Jack said as he turned on his heel.

"Afraid someone else might be taking advantage of Cooper?" Owen sarcastically said as he popped up the stairs from autopsy.

"What do you have, Owen?" Jack snapped.

"Apparently not the bug that's up your arse," Owen stated. He flopped down into the chair at his workstation, his lab coat splayed out under him. "I did another molecular scan. Their lymphocytes have definitely mutated and they were exposed to a time differential."

"But when?" Tosh looked up from the computers that surrounded her and pushed her glasses up her nose. "They did not arrive in town with any other Rift activity, and their story about being on holiday checks out. Their backstories even seem to check out."

Jack crossed his arms across his chest and scowled at no one in particular. Something about this whole business did not sit right with him; most of all that he could not remember anything to do with them. And then his team seemed to accept it easily. True, there was something inside of him that wanted to believe this so badly, he could feel himself shattering, but he needed to protect them first and foremost. If they could only prove it was true. It would be odd, children older than most of the parents and a childhood none of them could remember, but the others would have a legacy. He had his own immortality, this would be theirs, especially since most people would never know his team's true legacy.

"I'm working on two more scans right now," Owen stated, typing away on the computer, a clipboard perched precariously in front of him on a pile of stuff overflowing from his desk. "I just don't know what else I can find."

"Proof," Jack succinctly said.

"Oh wait," Owen said, snapping his fingers. "That's what I forgot to find. Proof! I thought I just might continue running around like Chicken Little swearing they're related to us with no proof. Darn it, Jack! You found me out!"

Jack stalked over to Owen's workstation and towered over him, glaring down. "I could arrange it that you would forget who you were, think you're married to Janet, and let you set up house with her in a double cell."

Owen glowered back at the captain. That was a rather rough threat, but he was not about to back down. Not many people he could make idle threats to like that, but he and Owen, they had a unique relationship. Owen shoved the clipboard to a corner of his desk and was about to say something when Tosh cleared her throat behind them. Both men turned and looked at her.

"The surveillance equipment we set up in the flat is online and working." She clacked a couple of keys on the keyboard and two separate camera feeds came up on her workstation computers.

Owen stood up and he and Jack strode over to Tosh and looked at the feed. Tosh fiddled with a couple of things and then sound could be heard from both rooms in the flat. One feed showed the kitchen/living area where Gwen, Jillian, Samantha and Lynnae were working. Rather, the other girls were working and Gwen was observing them. The other feed showed one of the bedrooms, and David sitting on the bed, rummaging through his bag. 

"What's going on, Tosh?" Jack asked as he dropped his arms to his side and then put his left hand on his hip.

"Just got it up, Jack," Tosh replied.

On the screen the girls could be heard talking, but not saying a lot. It seemed like they were aware of Gwen being in the room with them. They could have been discussing the weather and more would have been said about the situation at hand. They had set up four separate computers on the dining table. 

Jack glanced over at the other feed of David alone in the bedroom. "What does he have in his hand?" Jack asked out loud.

Tosh shrugged her shoulders and then zoomed in on David and whatever he had grasped in his hand. He flipped it over and over in his hands, not quite letting them see what it was. Jack leaned in, closer to the screen. What worried him was the look on David's face. The couple of times he had met the boy, he had not seen such a worried look.

"He looks like he did when he nearly ripped my head off after fighting the Weevil," Owen supplied.

Jack turned to Owen, surprised. "He fought the Weevil?"

"Yeah. Thought they were just trying to escape, but Tosh went over the footage later, and he was fighting it, trying to save his friend." Owen sat on the edge of Tosh's desk. "When I stopped them, I thought he was going to bloody fight me too. He's very protective."

"Impressive," Jack muttered as he turned back to the live feed. 

On the screen, David finally revealed what he was holding to be a blackberry. He held it in front of him, tapping the screen a couple of times, as if in thought. He then hit a button and scrolled through a list of names and finally settled on one and then held it up to his ear.

"Hola nana, que tal?" David's voice crackled through Tosh's speakers. "Soy el mismo. Estoy preocupado con mi amiga, Beth, estas en enfermo." He appeared to listen for a bit. "No no. We're staying safe. I just... I just don't know what to do... yo no sabe que hacer." David hung his head, his hand on his head, nodding along to whatever his grandmother was saying. "I'm trying. I know... si sabe. Permiso, I should go. I will talk to you mas tarde. Gracias para todo, Nana, I love you. Take your medicine, descansar, and I will see you as soon as we come back." David hung up the mobile.

Jack leaned back, pursing out his lips. He looked at Tosh and Owen who just looked at each other. This was their son, and he could see some of them in him, but he still wanted the proof.


	30. Chapter 30

Elizabeth huddled against the hot bulkhead trying to hide away from the things that had taken them. She clasped her old, worn cardigan sweater around her. The navy blue fibers hid the bloodstains well. She was sweating buckets, but the chills ran through her, traipsing up and down her spine with the pitter-patter of a million frozen mice.

It was coming, they were coming. They all knew it. The time approached for those things to come back and take another group of people to who knew where. They didn't know where they were taken, but she knew, deep down in her guts, that it was bad. Something seemed to scream out of her subconscious how bad it was.

Pulling her cardigan even tighter around her, despite the fact that it must have been 100-degrees in their holding cell, she tried to find comfort in the familiar. Yet, now, even the familiar was lost as her fingertips felt the dried, thick spots of blood. When those things had come for the first group of captives, they had tried to resist. The hotel employee closest to her that they were taking, received a bash to the head, caving it in and splattering the people around him.

The thought of those creatures chilled her body and soul. They had to be aliens, because there was no way in hell that anything that horrible could be found on Earth. It was their eyes that really got to her. Like sightless pools of gross swamp water, but yet they seemed to stare right through them. All popping out and ugly–

There was a small commotion as one of the hotel employees moved towards the center of the cell. Her maroon jacket seemed bright to the grayness around them; thick gray pipes running across the ceiling, another gray on what felt like stone walls, but looked like metal. Metal grates dotted the ceiling above them with only darkness in them. It was so hot, the air steamed from the water in their bodies.

The middle-aged woman took off her jacket, folding it neatly and dropping it to the ground. She knelt down on it, looking relaxed. She looked around at the rest of the captives. Only about half of them remained.

"All right now," she said, her Welsh accent soft and inviting. "We know those buggers are coming back, but worrying about it won't help." She looked around at the others and patted her short, sweaty black hair, making it stick to her head. She then looked at the group, her blue eyes warm to each of them. She wanly smiled, "I don't know about you, but this silence is murdering me. We need to think about survival. Why don't we talk about what we miss and what we should fight for?"

"Why should we?" an older gentleman grumbled. Elizabeth looked at him. He reminded her of her grandfather who had died when she was young. Navy trousers with a black belt, and right now a white, sweat stained t-shirt. He had chucked off his blue plaid shirt, folding it over his arm. She could tell at one time he had probably been really strong and quite handsome.

Elizabeth smiled a little, thinking of the fun she used to have with her grandfather. She buried her chin in her chest, letting out a sigh and dropped the smile quickly. It felt wrong to smile at a time like this. She wondered if she would ever smile again, or laugh with her friends. What she would give to be back with her friends, harassing David about something, laughing at how angry he would get and the creativity of his speech.

"If nothing else, we won't be watching the clock in silence. That's the worst," the woman from the hotel said.

"What would you know about clock watching?" the old man grumbled again.

"I've been through something like this before, well, sort of like this," the woman stated, leaning back. "About six years ago at the National Bank. I was working there the day of the bank robbery."

"Didn't three people die during that?" a younger looking man asked. He had a Scottish accent and Elizabeth craned her head recognizing the man who had been nearly dragged through the lobby by a group of triplets.

"Yea, three did. One of them was my pal, Dai. That's why I left the bank and started working in hotels. No one really holds up a hotel." The woman looked down at her fingers and picked at them a moment, lost in her own memories. She then looked up, her eyes glistening, but not a tear shed. "I guess I'll be the one to start then? What do I have to fight for? I would say my boy. Well, he's no longer a boy. Andy's at Uni now, but he's still my boy. I talked to him just yesterday, he's met a girl." The woman smiled and looked down at her hands again as she flipped them over and over. She then turned to a young teenage boy. "What about you?"

"What were you doing in a place like the Royal Park Plaza?" the old man asked curtly. He leaned against one of the smooth walls. 

"I was looking for a job, to help out my folks," the boy stated.

"What's your name?" the old man asked.

"Lewis."

"How old are you?" the man questioned.

"Seventeen."

"Got anyone to love?" the old man asked again; he seemed to be on a roll.

The teenager looked at the old man strangely. "Nah, my girl left me when she went to Uni and I didn't." The teenager turned around, his long red hair flapping in the breeze he made himself.

"What about you?" the hotel woman asked the old man. "Do you have anyone to love?"

The old man looked around the group, but did not move from his spot on the wall. Finally he spoke. "No. I lost my partner ten years ago. Who'd want to love an old queer who only had one long-term relationship in his life?" The old man pushed himself off the wall with a grunt and started for the far side of the cell.

No one said anything for a moment, letting the old man's statement and attitude stay with them a while longer. Elizabeth felt herself compelled to leave her wall sanctuary and join the group. Anything was better than being alone. She pushed herself along the silty floor and sat cross-legged next to the woman from the hotel.

"James," a female voice spoke up. "James, at least that's what my husband and I are planning on calling him, that's what I'm fighting for." 

Elizabeth craned her head, looking for who was speaking. It was an American voice. There was another American here! Sitting on the other side of the woman from the hotel was the pregnant woman that had bumped into her table earlier.

"I'm Jessica, my husband's name was, is Eric. God I hope he wasn't taken either." Jessica looked worried a moment and started twirling a lock of blonde hair around one finger. "And this right here," she said indicating her swollen belly, "will be James, named after Eric's dad."

"Your first wee one?" The man with the triplets asked Jessica from across the room.

"Yeah," Jessica said and let out a sigh. "Eric wanted to surprise me. I always wanted to go to England so he surprised me with a trip before the baby was due, while I could still fly. Cardiff was part of the package deal." She absent-mindedly started chewing on her hair.

"I have three, triplets," the father said. "My wife is expecting again, in about four months. Enjoy the first pregnancy."

"Oh, I'm trying," Jessica said. "What's your name?"

"Duncan," the father said and smiled. "It's apparently a family name."

"You had the triplets," Elizabeth spoke up, getting into the discussion.

"Aye." Duncan looked wistful. "For once I'm glad about Robbie and his tantrums." He looked around the group and then continued to explain. "Robbie, Caitlin, and John are as different as three-year-olds can be, but still will go nowhere without the other. Robbie started one of his tantrums, so we took them outside. Robbie loves the outside."

"Well, Caitlin forgot her bear, so Mary, that's my wife, she stayed outside with them while I went back to our room for the bear. That's when it happened." He seemed to be looking at nothing in particular. "God, I hope they're safe."

"We haven't seen them, so they probably are, sweetheart," the woman from the hotel said. She then turned to Elizabeth. "What about you?"

Elizabeth opened her mouth to say something, but had no clue where to start. She thought of her actual family: her parents, her sister, her brother; and she thought of her other family: her friends. They all meant so much to her, and were plenty of reasons to keep on going. She took a deep breath as her heart seemed to flutter. She slowly released the breath and then spoke to the group.

"My family. I love my family, both the one that gave birth to me and my other family, my friends." She pushed back any tears that threatened to come out. "I was traveling with four friends; it was the vacation we had all dreamed of. Well, maybe not dreamed of our entire lives, but it was nice, and fun, and we were having such a blast. Almost a month together and we hadn't killed each other." She smiled at that. A couple of people chuckled.

"I would do anything for my friends. My sister I would have to give my kidney to if she needed it, but if it was Jillian, or Samantha, or Lynnae or David, I would gladly give them whatever body organ they wanted." Elizabeth started fiddling with the hem of her cardigan sweater.

"What's your name?" the hotel woman asked. 

"Elizabeth, it was my grandma's name." She smiled at the woman.

"That's a pretty name," Jessica said, smiling at Elizabeth.

The talking was a good idea of the woman's. It got their minds off the immediate danger, a danger they were helpless to do anything about. Suddenly they heard a clanging by the only door to the room. They all scrambled to their feet, Duncan helping pull Jessica up to her feet. And they waited. 

The big wheel knob turned slowly and then the garage style door slid to the side, inch-by-inch. There was an even brighter green glow from the hall than what lit up their dank cell. Then they entered.

No matter how many times those things entered the cell, Elizabeth was still horrified at what walked through that door. Two arms and two legs; that was the only similarity to humans that they had. They were tall, perhaps six-and-a-half feet tall, their skin, if one could call it that, was the color of mud. Across their chests and backs, they looked like armadillos, thick skin like an elephant going down the arms, which led into talon-like claws. She couldn't see how their legs looked, they were hidden by black, leather-like trousers and foot coverings.

Two of them strode into the cell as two others stood guard by the door. Elizabeth stood her ground, holding the sweater tight around her, wishing she had more on than a tank top, yoga pants and sandals. She tried to steady her breath, thinking of her two families, trying to draw strength from them. Elizabeth didn't know how, but she knew, deep within her gut, that her friends were looking for her. She prayed to God that they would find her before it was too late, but if it was, that they would make these creatures pay for what they did here.

The two main creatures split up and starting peering at the group of captives. The other alien grabbed one of the male hotel employees, shoving him towards the guards at the door. One of the guards clasped their talons around his arm and he could barely move, a look of terror on his face as he tried to struggle with them. The one closest to Elizabeth looked into the face of a middle-aged businessman. She could almost swear she saw a small smile on its face. It grabbed the businessman and shoved him towards the other guard.

The other alien quickly yanked a young bellhop out of the line they had unknowingly formed, holding him tight in its strong grip. The last creature without a prisoner peered down into Elizabeth's face. Its bulging green eyes swirled with a mass of darkness. A chill passed through her. It snatched her by the arm, its talons digging into her side slightly. A small whimper escaped her lips. Its face was nearly touching her own, and it had a smell about it, a smell of a dank and foul grave. Elizabeth felt empty, as if a legion of rats had chewed away her insides.

Suddenly it snapped back and let her go, as she stumbled into Duncan. His strong hands held her by the shoulders, more comforting than those things. It reached out for the woman from the hotel, but suddenly the old man was standing between her and it.

"Sorry mate, Queens first." The old man stood defiantly in front of the creature, his plaid shirt back on and buttoned up. He looked proper and prim, his chin jutted out.

The woman started to protest, but the old man shook his head no and pushed her back, standing his ground. The alien looked down at him and then grabbed him by the arm. The old man let himself be led out of the cell while the other prisoners were dragged along. The door slid shut, locking the captives away once more.

A sobbing could be heard, and Elizabeth quickly looked around, her bedraggled hair sticking to her neck. It was Jessica, the pregnant American, who was crying. Elizabeth shook herself away from Duncan and hurriedly went over to her.

"Shhhh… shhhhh now." Elizabeth put an arm around Jessica, and began to rub her opposite shoulder comfortingly. "We're going to make it. We will make it."

"I hope so," Jessica said as she began to hiccup. "Not for me, but for little James here." She began to cry even more heartily.

Elizabeth led Jessica away from the group and over to the far corner of the cell. Elizabeth sat down, her back to the wall, then took the woman's hand and tugged her down, sitting next to her. Elizabeth let Jessica lean up against her shoulder, sobbing, as she stroked the mother-to-be's back. Despite what she had just told Jessica, Elizabeth found herself wondering if it was better to be waiting, or would they find themselves wishing they had been among the first ones to go.


	31. Chapter 31

Ianto watched the CCTV footage from his perch inside the tourist office. Samantha had been walking around the Plass for the last hour, meandering, stopping every so often to look at something in a window or to look out on the Bay. 

Owen was going to check up on their _children_ in person first thing in the morning, but they still kept watch over them using the CCTV, and Ianto had the night shift. It was so odd to use that phrase, children, in reference to himself. Of course he and Lisa had thought about it once upon a time, being in the throes of new love and all that, but they soon realized how hard it would be to raise a child with both of them working for Torchwood in London. But now Lisa was gone, converted by the Cybermen during the battle of Canary Wharf and executed by Torchwood as a threat to the safety of the Empire and the World.

Ianto shook those thoughts out of his head and looked down at the other computer screen embedded in the tourist office main desk. Ianto had been running secondary scans off Tosh's inspections of energy noticeable in the atmosphere. They had to rule out ordinary radiation and intelligence communications that flew from satellite to satellite, among a plethora of other things. It was determined earlier that it was indeed a localized transport that stole part of the hotel, now it was up to them to find out where it was taken. Tosh had seen a couple of blips on her radar, but nothing solid yet.

He glanced back at the various CCTV feeds he had set up to watch. Two were at the flat the children were at, one was following Samantha, and the other was set to pick up feeds around the Hub at random. In the flat, the other three were passed out the same way they had been passed out when Samantha had left. David was sprawled out in a dining chair in front of his computer. Lynnae had settled on the settee, stretching out for a couple of minutes, but had not moved for the last two hours. Jillian was curled up in the armchair, her laptop gently beeping in her lap. When he saw Samantha heading towards the Plass, Ianto moved his station upstairs in case she had the bright idea to visit.

Samantha. Ianto watched her progress and smiled inwardly as he saw her head along the pier that lead to the main outside door for the tourist office. He had figured correctly. He got up and darted into the little office, pouring hot water into the coffee press he kept there for late nights like this, when he wanted something special to keep him going. The aromatic smell of fresh coffee filled the small quarters with a sweet smoky life. He then walked through the beaded curtain, barely making a sound, and sat down in the main area of the office.

He took notice as she stopped in front of the door and contemplated it a moment. Then Samantha reached out her hand and tried the knob, finding it locked and not moving. She pulled back and gazed at the door, a look of consternation on her face. She then reached out again and grabbed the doorknob. Right before she tried to twist it again, Ianto hit a little black button next to the computer monitor and unlocked the front door.

Ianto stifled the chuckle that tried to escape his body knowing that Samantha would hear him. He kept watch as she stared at the door and then headed inside. He looked up over the desk and caught her eye. She stopped just inside the door and let it close behind her. 

He stood up and tugged down on his suit jacket. "Come on in. Let me get you a seat." He disappeared behind the curtain and then reappeared with a basic, non-rolling, armed office chair. He indicated the seat and disappeared again into the ante-office.

Reappearing with the coffee jug and two coffee cups, Ianto was pleased to see that Samantha trusted him enough to have taken the seat, her backpack down on the floor, but her coat still on. He poured himself a cup of coffee and then poured Samantha one. She gingerly took it and cradled it in her hands. Her eyes never leaving his, she took a sip.

"Well, glad to know you trust me," Ianto stated as he partially sat on the desk, one leg up, hiding the computer screens with his body.

"I figured you wouldn't be stupid enough to try it a third time," Samantha quipped.

"Wouldn't work anyway, apparently," Ianto stated as he took a deep pull out of his own cup. He balanced the cup on his knee, holding it there with only two fingers. "I figured you would have been at the flat, still searching for your friend."

"Been doing that. Needed to take a break before my head exploded," Samantha said taking a big gulp of coffee. Ianto could see her hold it in her mouth a moment and savour the flavour. "This is good. Who makes this?"

"My own special blend, private reserve you could say," Ianto replied. "Jack doesn't even know about this stock of coffee."

"And you're sharing it with me," Samantha said. "Why?"

"Because." Ianto looked down into his cup, hoping she would not see the truth in his eyes. "I did some more looking into your past. You used to work at a coffee shop for a couple of years."

"It helped pay the bills." Samantha took another gulp and leaned her head back. She looked weary. "Contrary to popular belief, one does not wake up one day and have instant literary success. That would be nice, but it just doesn't happen."

"Yes, well, I figured you might appreciate this more than some of my colleagues."

"Oh, it's quite good. I should share my own blend with you one day, maybe." She stretched out her legs in front of her, slouching down in the chair a bit, her cup held on her stomach. It amazed Ianto how much she looked and acted like Owen at that moment. She opened her eyes and peered at him. "So when are you starting the interrogation?"

"Interrogation?" Ianto raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, interrogation." She raised her head. "I'm not an idiot. You don't have your buddy, the big boss man around to play good cop/bad cop, but you can still play the ‘I really care about you' card and pump me for information."

"What makes you think that," Ianto asked, taking a sip of his coffee and watching her over the rim of the cup.

"Jack Jones novel number three, _The Medusa Conspiracy_. Although Jack offered them brandy, not coffee, but it's still a good ploy," Samantha said sitting up a bit, her elbows resting on the chair arm.

"Sorry to inform you, I have never read any of the Jack Jones novels," Ianto stated. Although he had been tempted to after finding a stash of several of them buried in Owen's desk one night while cleaning the Hub when he couldn't sleep. Of course the reason he couldn't sleep was that Jack had been gone for two months already. Now, though, he found himself really intrigued to read them after all the references he had heard lately.

"Oh well, still a good ploy," Samantha said.

"True." Ianto put his coffee cup down. "Why not just talk to me. No ploys, no conspiracy theories, no agendas."

"Oh, there are always agendas, even ones people don't realize," Samantha stated smugly. She then stared down into her coffee cup for a couple of minutes, not drinking and barely moving. Her index finger tapped the rim of the cup. Finally she looked up at Ianto, her eyes glistening, but no tears were shed.

"What is it?" Ianto caught the lump in his throat. He normally tried to not get attached to the cases Torchwood helped on, but sometimes it was way more bloody difficult than it should be.

"Truthfully," she said, leaning forward and placing the mug on the desk. "What are the odds of being able to save Elizabeth?"

"What do you mean?" Ianto took a sip of coffee and steadied himself. He found himself wishing it was a beer at least.

"First of all, in any abduction case, the best odds of finding the person are within the first 24 hours." She leaned forward looking up at him. "It seems like the police have no idea what is going on, and the only other people brought in are you guys. No MI-5. No UNIT. No one else. And what happened is really, really fucking weird."

"Weird? In what way?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Samantha jumped up out of the chair towards Ianto, but stopped, waving her arms in the air as she spoke. "Part of the building randomly and quite neatly disappeared! Except for Starfleet transporter technology you tell me just what could do that?"

She continued to ramble on. "All communications, I mean everything, with any of the missing people was immediately lost when that lobby disappeared. Either they are dead, and I refuse to believe that, or they are way, way, _way_ out of data systems range. So one of three things has happened: they went on a journey to the center of the Earth, are lost somewhere in time, or were abducted by aliens. I would have said they might be invisible except for the fact that people have traipsed through the area they used to occupy." She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him. The look of tears completely wiped from her face.

Ianto quietly stood up from the desk and topped off both his and Samantha's cups with fresh coffee. On the outside he was calm and cool. Inside his mind was whirring at top speed. These _kids_ admitted to the existence of the paranormal and the extra-terrestrial, or so he believed.

"What made you come up with those theories?" Ianto carefully questioned, putting the coffee pot down and turning back to Samantha.

"We are not idiots. Have you not noticed some of the strange _visitations_ the Earth has had over the years?" She picked up her cup with both hands, holding it steady. "Plus, you attend college on old Indian burial ground surrounded by three other cemeteries and you tell me if you experience anything unusual."

He decided to turn it back around on her. "Why should we save her?"

"Excuse me?" Samantha nearly slammed the cup down on the counter.

"Your friend. Tell me why we should save her."

"I thought you were all about helping the innocent?" Samantha huffed and turned around, snatching up her backpack. She walked around the counter, heading for the door. 

Ianto hurriedly put his coffee cup down and started after her. He grabbed her by the arm. She paused and stared at his hand on her arm. She looked up him, finally meeting him eye to eye. His breath caught and he pulled his hand back. In mere seconds he was mentally putting up every psychic barrier he could think of. Despite the doubts Jack had, there was a familiar pull when the kids were this close to him. He couldn't name the feeling if he had wanted to, but it scared him to no end.

"The people who snatched them–"

"The aliens you mean."

"Whatever took them, could possibly be meaning to do them harm. Why would you fight for her? Why would you possibly put your life on the line for someone who may or may not still be alive." Ianto took a breath and stepped away. "How would you convince them to not kill her? Knowing the reason why in your mind could make all the difference in what happens over the next couple of days."

Samantha slowly set her backpack on the floor and squared her shoulders, her body tensing up and lengthening. She coolly glared at him. Her hands hung at her side, but they were not limp. She had them curled into fists, knuckles already turning white.

"She is still alive."

"You do not know that."

"She is still alive, believe me, I know she is alive." Samantha's shoulders dropped, but the rest of her body was still on edge. "Have you ever met someone and for some odd reason that friendship, that relationship just clicked? Have you ever met someone and immediately related to them as if you had known them at least your entire life, if not lifetimes before?"

Ianto shook his head yes. Of course he could agree to that. He had a list of people like that. Granted it was a short list, but it was there nonetheless: Dave, his best mate from primary, Lisa, and then Jack.

"We met years ago when we were in college. She had joined some of the same student organizations as I had. We shouldn't have clicked. She was into boy bands, I was into rock and roll. She was into ‘Anne of Green Gables,' I was into Ellery Queen and Isaac Asimov. Yet somehow, we became friends." Samantha half-smiled. "Oh! She can be really annoying at times, but I don't know what I would do if she were gone."

"How do you mean?"

Samantha leaned against the counter, propped up on her elbows, hands steepled in front of her face. "For all her annoying quirks: cleaning up before dinner is done, her own _odd_ filing system, and her ability to know every, and I mean every, game her little niece has made up. For all those quirks, deep down she has the best heart. She always means to do well, will stick up for her friends, even if it doesn't help the situation she will still be there. She finally realized what she wants to do with her life, and the kids she teaches will know that she is their champion."

Ianto tried to hold back his own tears. He prayed to God that he would get a chance to actually meet this daughter of his, whether she was aware of it or not. Ianto went to say something when they both started.

Hearing the main door to the tourist office open quickly, Ianto and Samantha looked up and were surprised to see Lynnae. Ianto quickly looked down at the monitor behind the desk and inwardly groaned as he saw that the other two were up and furiously working on their laptops.

"I knew it! Going out for a walk, my ass!" Lynnae stormed in, her cheeks flushed. "After all the stuff we have had to deal with today, you just disappeared!"

"I left you a note." Samantha picked up her backpack once more and flung it over her left shoulder. 

"A note saying you were going for a walk and would be back soon. That's what Beth did!" Lynnae stood there, her hands on her hips, pushing open her raincoat, a scowl etched on her face.

Samantha looked chagrined. "Sorry. I needed to get out of there. I felt too cooped up and didn't want to wake you guys since you were actually sleeping for a bit."

"Well, don't do it again!" Lynnae put a hand on Samantha's shoulder. "Seriously, you had us freaked out there."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

The argument over, Lynnae started to chuckle. "You know what it took to track you? Good thing we don't have anything like this CCTV thing in the States, David had way more fun with it then he should have. Geez! He even tracked you in here, and when we saw you having coffee?" She cocked her head to the side. "Well, let's just say he had some interesting things to say. I don't think I have ever heard that exact combination of swear words before."

"Uh, excuse me. He was looking at footage from inside this office?" Ianto automatically looked up at the one main camera that focused on the majority of the office. If he got footage, then that would mean that he broke through Tosh's firewall. No one had ever broken through Tosh's firewall. No one but Torchwood could access those specific cameras. 

"Yeah, what about it?"

Before Ianto could answer, he heard the front door open again. He had to remember to lock it after this. All three looked up when they heard someone clear their throat rather loudly. There stood Jack, his arms crossed over his chest, a definite scowl on his face. He blinked a couple of times looking at the girls who said nothing for once. Then Jack turned to Ianto, moving his head and neck, but the rest of his body was stone.

"Ianto?"

"Jack."

Ianto really hated that tone in Jack's voice. It was that "I am elder, hear me roar; you have been a misbehaving child, but not the kind of misbehaving that the punishment will be fun" tone. Ianto raised his head and looked at Jack, daring him to say anything in front of the girls.

"I go weevil hunting alone and I come back to a coffee klatch." Jack shot Ianto a look that finished the sentence. Ianto could almost hear it in his mind, "with two people that are supposed to be _nowhere_ near the Hub!"

"We should get going," Samantha said as she grabbed Lynnae by the elbow and headed straight for the door. As they passed Jack she hurriedly said, "Good to see you again." The two girls nearly bolted out the door.

Jack followed them every step of the way with his eyes. Once they had left, he turned back to Ianto. His body could have been made of steel he was that uptight. He stalked over to the counter and placed both hands on it, palms down. Jack leaned in.

"What were they doing here?" Ianto could actually see Jack's jawline, he was clenching it so tightly.

"We have a problem, Jack," Ianto said, keeping his voice calm and even, trying to not let Jack unsettle him. "David broke through Tosh's firewall."


	32. Chapter 32

So, this was Torchwood. Jillian crossed her legs under the conference room table. She picked up the cup of tea and sipped at it. According to Samantha and Lynnae they had all been in this enormous underground bunker only a couple of days ago, but try as she might she could not remember it. It took an immense amount of confidence in both Samantha and Lynnae for Jillian to agree to come down here.

After Lynnae had dragged Samantha back from commiserating with the one they had called Ianto Jones, the rest of the night consisted of them still working on finding Elizabeth, or any of the other abductees, and rotating hour naps. Jillian had been hard at work on David's mini super-computer with Samantha looking through police reports on her laptop when there was a knock on the door. It was Dr. Harper and Captain Harkness, inviting them to use the resources in their office.

Hell of an office! Jillian gently placed the cup back on the long table. Resting her fingertips on the smooth china she began to think. None of them had been able to sleep the night before. Oh sure, quick cat-naps here and there, but their adrenaline kept peaking. They had to find Elizabeth, they just had to. Sure, she had first bonded with David over similar losses, and then Lynnae over their fascination with anime and all things Japanese, but it was Elizabeth that was her best friend. Elizabeth was quirky enough for her, and always had something for Eve. That won her points every time in Jillian's book.

She readjusted her brown cardigan sweater over her yellow tank top. She was suddenly feeling chilled from the inside out. Her head snapped up as the far doors of the conference room whooshed open and Gwen Cooper walked in carrying a stack of papers.

"Oh, you're here," Gwen said, a surprised look on her face.

"Ianto said something about a quick meeting up here and I had nothing else I could do while he ran to someplace he called archives." Jillian sat back in the seat. "So I made myself a cup of tea in the kitchenette and came up here."

"Oh," Gwen said as she put the papers down on the end of the table closest to her.

"Plus, I needed quiet time for a minute. The others can get a little…" her voice trailed off as she thought about it a moment. "Loud."

"I see," Gwen responded. She began to sort out the papers, making smaller piles.

"Can I help you? I hate not being able to do anything." Jillian stood up holding out a hand.

"That's okay–"

Gwen was interrupted as Toshiko Sato waltzed in through the doors that led out of the conference room and into the underground base. Tosh quickly pulled up some schematics on the computer screen on the small desk in the corner of the conference room. Tosh stopped at the silence that greeted her, and then turned fully to the computer, holding a PDA next to it.

"Don't mind me," Tosh quipped.

Gwen was about to say something when Jillian's mobile started to ring. The other two women looked at Jillian as she pulled it out of the pocket of her jeans. Jillian looked down at the screen and saw that it was her mother's number. Her mind quickly did the math, realizing that since it was about eight in the morning here in Cardiff, it was 2 a.m. back home. She snapped the clamshell open and hit the call button, her heart racing.

"Hello?"

"Momma?"

"Evie, sweetie, what's wrong? Is everything okay?" Jillian's mind buzzed with all the things that could be wrong at her parent's house that her five-year-old daughter would be calling at two in the morning.

Tosh went back to working on the computer as Gwen watched Jillian. Jillian moved over to the corner by the video screen, away from Tosh and Gwen. Shutting them out, she took a deep calming breath.

"I don't want the dark man to take you away Momma!" Eve's voice was hushed but terrified.

"What dark man, love?"

"The bad man in my dream. He took Auntie Beth and then he hurt you," Eve rambled on, a frightened pitch to her voice.

"Shhhhhh… Hush now little one. No one is taking Auntie Beth or me," Jillian said. Her heart broke as she lied to Eve, knowing Elizabeth was in danger. "You just had a really bad dream."

"It felt really, really, real, Momma," Eve hurriedly said.

Jillian's heart broke as she could hear the tears in her daughter's voice. If she didn’t know better she would guess that were probably running down Eve's face right now. She hated being so far away from her, and she hated lying to her, but if the lies kept her safe then that is what she would do. Jillian hung her head, her long hair curtaining her face, hiding away.

"Hush now. I know it did and I know you wouldn't want anything to happen, but," Jillian stopped the lump in her throat from coming through in her voice. "But, nothing bad has happened to me or to Auntie Beth. We are both fine."

Jillian turned and her eyes caught Gwen's. Jillian couldn't even give her a weak, hopeful smile. Her heart wasn't in it. Her only consolation was at least Eve could not see her because then she would know her momma was lying. Jillian took a deep breath as she heard Eve breathing heavily on the other end of the call.

"You're sure, Momma?"

"Absolutely sweetheart." Jillian thought a moment. "Why don't you take Kero, your guardian teddy bear, to bed with you and kiss him once for Auntie Beth."

"And once for you too, Momma!"

"Yes, and once for me. Then you can give him a hug and hold him tight, and when you hold him tight the bad men can't get us."

"Okay! Love you lots and lots, Momma." Eve hung up the phone on her end.

Jillian pulled the mobile away from her ear and found herself staring at it, wishing she could be with Eve right now. She let out a deep sigh and hit the "end" button, wincing slightly. She looked up and found Gwen in front of her.

"Is everything okay sweetheart?" Gwen put a hand on Jillian's shoulder.

Jillian did not flinch, but rather found herself wanting to hug Gwen. Contrary to what she would normally do, Jillian gave in and hugged Gwen, pulling strength from this total stranger. She tried to fight back the tears, but a couple spilled from her eyes, and she wiped them away. Jillian pulled back and gave Gwen a weak smile.

"Sorry, I don't know why, but thanks," Jillian said.

Jillian pulled away from Gwen and saw Tosh staring at the other woman. Before anyone could speak another word, Samantha, Lynnae, David, Owen and Jack trooped into the conference room. Owen took a seat halfway down the table followed by Samantha and Lynnae taking the two seats right next to him. David plopped down in the chair at the end of the table, his legs stretched out. Jack stood over David, arms crossed, glaring at him. David tried to not pay attention, then slowly looked up, shrugged his shoulders, and moved to a chair on the empty side of the table. 

"All right, tell me what we have so far," Jack said, still standing behind his chair.

Jillian hurried and took the empty seat next to David, sitting down as she slid her mobile back into her pocket. Gwen hurried around the table back to the far end, in front of a digital screen while Tosh half-turned, watching them while still working on the computer terminal.

"Okay. 36 people were abducted by transport almost 24 hours ago along with the lobby of the Royal Park Plaza." Gwen pulled up the list of the missing on the screen behind her. "None of the victims have been located yet. It would appear to be that it was the lobby that was needed, not the victims, and they were random abductions."

"I've almost located the transport coordinates," Tosh spoke up. She moved over by Gwen. "The energy signature seems almost natural, as if the aliens are using organic means and have organic waste, masking it with our own natural elements in the solar system."

Jack shook his head and leaned forward, resting his hands on the chair. Jillian looked down at her hands clasped together in her lap. Knowing it was a natural energy signature was all well and good, but unless they could tell her why hippie aliens stole her best friend she still could not trust them and was intent on doing things her own way. She did not think it was as random as they thought.

"Owen and Tosh did scans of the hotel remains and there appeared to be a new metallic signature in some of the remains." Gwen pressed a button on a little remote she had picked up and the screen filled with images of small metallic structures, and their components scrolling next to them.

"I recognize that," Jack started to say.

"Timorox technology," Ianto said. 

Jillian's head snapped up, surprised to hear Ianto's voice, not realizing he had entered the room. He stood next to Jack holding a thick black file folder filled with old looking papers. She sat up straight in her chair.

"Timorox?" Owen questioned.

"At least that's what they are called in this report," Ianto replied.

"That's what they are called other places, too," Jack stated.

"What's so special about the Timorox?" Gwen asked.

"Other than they have our abductees," Jack replied.

"According to a Torchwood report from June 28, 1897, there had been contact with the Timorox in 1889, in Cardiff Bay." Ianto had opened the file folder and was scanning through it as he spoke. "The Timorox had demanded the return of their ‘katin,' I believe."

"Ketinad actually, and that's not good if they're demanding it's return." Jack pushed himself off the chair and turned his back to the group.

"Pardon me, but just what is a ketinad?" Owen leaned forward in his chair, his hands on the table in front of him.

Jack whirled back around, facing them. "Ketinad is their king. The Timorox is a very patriarchal society. They will do _anything_ for their king." Jack turned to Ianto. "Thing is, I don't recall a Timorox king being anywhere near the Earth in the last two centuries."

"Apparently he already was here," Ianto said as he peered down at a yellowed piece of paper. "He was here for approximately the last 500 years. He's been dead and buried under the site of the hotel that entire time."

"What would they need with a dead king?" Gwen asked.

"To complete the death cycle. It's not done if he's on an alien world," Jack stated, looking like he was just staring into space.

"Why didn't they just take him in 1889 and be done with it?" Owen questioned.

"Because Torchwood refused," Ianto said.

"Perfect," Owen quipped, sitting back in his chair.

"They demanded a sacrifice as part of the ceremony involving the king, and Torchwood refused to let them take anyone. In fact Torchwood took and locked up two of the Timorox to make sure they did not take any sacrifices."

"Sacrifices? Beth is a fucking sacrifice? Oh hell fucking no." David stood up next to Jillian, glaring at Ianto.

"We don't know that this is really the Timorox," Gwen said, trying to smooth things over.

"Bullshit," Samantha said from her chair. 

"If we know who they are, how do we stop them?" Lynnae chimed in.

"We need to find them first," Tosh said, staring full-on at the computer screen and typing away like a maniac. "And I believe I just did."

"Holy shit. Seriously?" David jumped up out of his chair knocking it back and hurried next to Tosh, peering over her shoulder. "Fuck yeah, that looks like it."

"Looks like what?" Lynnae sat up in her seat, peering over at Tosh and David.

"She's got it narrowed down to five signatures," David nearly crowed. "Oh those bastards are so going down!"

"What are we supposed to do when we find them?" Gwen asked. "They are still in orbit and we don't exactly have a spaceship to get up there."

"Tosh, find them now," Jack said as he headed for the doors to the conference room. "I'll be right back." Jack exited and could be heard racing down the stairs.

"What happened to the Timorox that Torchwood locked up?" Owen asked, still sitting back in his chair, tapping a pen against his knee.

"The ship left orbit after a couple of years and the health of the two detainees seemed to deteriorate. Torchwood then froze them in the alien cryogenics lab, figuring they would keep them as insurance," Ianto stated reading from the papers. "Apparently the two Timorox they froze turned to dust while in cryo, which baffled the Torchwood agents at the time, since they had opened the king's casket and saw that he was well-preserved."

"We kidnap them first and then add desecration of a grave to it, brilliant," Owen jibed.

"I need more space," Tosh stated, her eyes never leaving her PDA as she headed out of the conference room and straight for her own workstation.

David looked at the group and then followed Tosh, nearly whooshing out the door after her. Jillian tightly squeezed her eyes shut, focusing on the sparks of light she saw in the darkness, and then opened them. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. If she could survive her own personal year of hell nearly on her own, she, and the rest of them could survive this.

"What happened in 1897?" Samantha asked from her seat.

"What about 1897?" Gwen said.

"June 28, 1897 is when the Torchwood report is from. What happened in 1897? Why did they suddenly feel the need to write down all that they knew about the Timorox?" Samantha looked from Gwen to Owen to Ianto.

"Two days prior is when they noticed that the other two aliens they had froze were nothing but dust in the morgue. They then went to check on the king's casket, and seeing it was still in perfect shape, tried to destroy it." Ianto cleared his throat. "It would not be destroyed. In fact, the first man to touch it with his skin was killed, and it seemed like his body was absorbed by the dead king."

"All that remained of that particular Torchwood agent was dust, just like the aliens." Ianto closed the file folder, holding it up by his chest. "After that they sealed up the casket and made sure that any new developments were built over the burial site, trying to keep the aliens from coming back for it."

"They wanted sacrifices before so they made sure to populate it with people?" Owen sat there with is mouth open. "That's like handing them an all-you-can-eat buffet."

"I got it!" Tosh's yell could be heard clear as day in the conference room. 

Everyone jumped up and ran outside to the catwalk. Gwen and Ianto scurried over, stopping in front of the workstation. Jillian, Samantha, and Lynnae hung over the banister looking at David.

"We got it! We have the signature of the ship and know its exact location," David hurriedly said.

Jack came bolting out of his office, holding something metallic in his hand. Owen, with Lynnae on his heels, scrambled up the steps, halting next to Jack. He held something that looked like the inside of a clock, with a couple of gears and levels. It was rather small, but had wiring attached very tightly, and a digital blue screen. Jack shoved the disk into Lynnae's hands.

"Hold that," Jack commanded. "I need those coordinates Tosh."

Jack opened a brown leather strap on his left wrist and Jillian was surprised to see a small screen and electronic components built into the strap. Samantha leaned over the railing looking at the strap. Lynnae held the other device out in her cupped hands.

Tosh rattled off the spatial coordinates of the alien ship and Jack seemed to be keying something into the wrist strap thingy he wore. The device in Lynnae's hands suddenly lit up.

"Jack! What the hell is that?" Gwen asked.

"It fell through the Rift last year, came off a droid," Jack said as he snapped his wrist strap shut.

"What are you going to do if you make it to the ship?" Owen questioned.

"Not sure yet," Jack replied. "But we have to get them out of there as soon as we can." Jack grabbed the device from Lynnae when Tosh cried out.

"No! Jack wait!" Tosh slammed her hand down on the empty desk next to her. "The ship just disappeared. The ship left orbit!"


	33. Chapter 33

Tosh typed away at her computer, continuously running scans, hoping to find some trace of the Timorox still on Earth. It seemed so impossible that after getting so close to finally finding the taken people, it just slipped out of their hands. It seemed so unfair. Days like this Tosh found herself wishing she could just be a little girl again and curl up in her grandfather's lap and just cry about it until it was better. 

Instead, she had to find hope any way she could. If that meant continuing to scan for residual energy of something that supposedly left without a trace, then she would find a glimmer and trace that. It seemed unnaturally quiet in the Hub as the day wore on. True, it could never actually be quiet in the Hub, between the water reservoir from the fountain on the Plass to all the machinery they kept running night and day. Yet, there was a stillness that permeated everything since the ship had disappeared from sight.

Ianto had taken to searching every little thing he could out of the archives, and when he wasn't doing that, he was cleaning the Hub spotless. Jillian was right on his heels, cleaning like crazy, helping him out. Not long after the ship disappeared, they had gotten a call from the police about a not-human body that had been found. Jack and Owen went to check it out and came back with a dead Weevil that Owen was attempting to finish cataloguing down in the morgue.

Gwen and Samantha were checking up on the victim's families, determining if any of the victims had shown up, if any of them had been spared. Jack had sequestered himself in his office to do who knew what. Lynnae and David had their computers open on the desk that Ianto normally used when he worked down in the Hub. They were re-watching all the CCTV from the time of attack, looking for what, Tosh could not figure out. At least they were doing something.

Tosh sighed and clicked on the energy trail from the alien ship, plotting their exit course from the atmosphere. Where they were headed was uncharted territory, but something bothered Tosh. Why would they have waited nearly a day and then just disappeared. Finding a wall she could not burrow under or find a way to blast through, Tosh started working on the other little item she had found.

While scanning for the alien ship, she had stumbled upon what appeared to be a communications stream in the atmosphere that was unaccounted for. It did not have the energy signature of the Timorox, but it was nothing any of the Earth organisations used currently. The stream seemed to be active at the same minute, every hour.

David let out a groan. "Even I cannot stare at a computer screen anymore," he said as he stood up from the desk and did a full-body stretch, lengthening his body. "And I need to go pee."

"The toilet is up the circular staircase," Tosh said without looking up.

"Great, thanks," David said as he brushed past her. His boots could be heard clunking on the stairs.

Tosh finally looked up, rolling her shoulders, and saw Lynnae sitting back in her seat, one elbow propped up on an arm of the chair. She was tapping her index finger against her bottom lip in a way that reminded Tosh of Jack.

"Find anything new?" Tosh asked walking over to the chair David had vacated and sat down in it.

"Not really," Lynnae replied.

"What were you hoping to find?" Tosh queried. She found herself idly playing with David's computer, running the CCTV footage he had been looking at.

"I don't know," Lynnae said. She pushed her glasses up her nose. "I guess I was kind of hoping that the transport didn't go to the ship, but deposited the people somewhere else and just took the dead king's crypt."

"What did you figure out?"

"No residual energy, no split-second changes, no disfigurement of spatial properties at the edge of the transport either." Lynnae wiped imaginary dust from her computer screen. "My baby is good, but I can't find anything." Lynnae looked up at Tosh, her eyes glistening.

Tosh lightly put her hand over Lynnae's. "Listen, I've had to save this team's arse a lot of times, especially Owen's," Tosh said. "I have never given up on them, you can't give up on your friend yet."

Tosh knew it was the right thing to say. She shuddered at the sudden caring, and maternal feelings she felt deep down for this woman. Owen was right. Her mother used to say that a woman would know her own child, no matter what, and now she knew her mother was right. If she was her daughter, what happened to all of them that they did not know them?


	34. Chapter 34

"Bollocks," Owen muttered under his breath. 

He dropped the Weevils lopped off hand into a metal basin next to him. Owen could feel someone staring at him, and looked up. Spotting David hanging over the top railing of autopsy, Owen grumbled some more.

"What do you want?" Owen asked gruffly.

"Need some help?" David started walking down the stairs into autopsy.

"If I said no would it make a difference?" Owen retorted.

"No," David stated as he reached the lower level of the autopsy bay. "Looks like a Marcus Isaacs sculpture." David cocked his head looking at the Weevil.

Owen stared at David in shock. Here was a mutilated Weevil body and it didn't make him run and scream or anything. Rather he compared it to a sculpture, by an artist he had no clue about. And now he was–

"Hey!" Owen put himself between David's outreaching hand and the Weevil. "You have no fucking clue if this is safe."

"Where's fucking life if you play it safe?"

"That attitude will get you killed pretty quickly," Owen said as he grabbed an evidence bag.

"Actually, I figured it was safe, since you have a bunch of the shit that seems to be leaking out of this guys orifice all over the back of your jeans and it seemed like enough crap to have seeped through." David sat down in Owen's chair and crossed his arms across his chest looking smug. "And you seem to be fine."

Owen wanted to smack that smug look off David's face so badly, his fingers were actually flexing. A flurry of nasty retorts popped in and out of Owen's mind, and still he held his tongue. Instead, he decided to change the subject.

"Who's Marcus Isaacs?" Owen pulled a couple of different looking fibres off the bloody Weevil and put them into the evidence bag.

"He's umm, he's a new artist out of Cicero, making the Chicago scene." David nodded towards the corpse. "It looks like his latest series of sculptures of what will happen to humanity in the future."

"Sounds like a cheery guy." Owen prodded at the severed hand. "How do you know him?"

"His latest installation is in my art gallery." David put his hands on his legs and stood up.

"You have an art gallery?" Owen said flabbergasted. He stared at David still holding the severed hand.

"Actually, it's not in my name, it's in my wife's name," David said as he held up a heavy-duty body bag for Owen.

"You have a wife?" Owen tossed the hand into the bag. How had they not known this? Go figure Gwen would fuck this up.

"I did have a wife. There is an art gallery in Chicago named for her, to help up and coming artists." David put the bag down and leaned against the wall, jamming his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "We were married for eight months when she died. There was a multi-car accident on the Kennedy Expressway, and she got sucked into it. It was the worst fucking day of my life ever."

Owen stopped what he was doing and watched at the man. David took a deep breath, staring at nothing at all. David's hands tapped out an invisible rhythm inside of his pockets. Even if there had been no familial connection between the two of them, Owen wanted to give him support. Owen had been there not too long ago, losing his fiancé Katie to an _accident._

"I thought things couldn't get any more screwed up," David finally continued. "When I got home from the hospital – which my fucking parents couldn't bother to get to–" David took another deep breath. "When I got home, there was a message from her doctor. Apparently she had an appointment earlier in the week, and she was calling to let her know the results of the pregnancy test. It was positive, two months along. Talk about making a shitty day even more messed up."

"What was her name?" Owen asked. He couldn't help it. He hated it at first when people had asked him about Katie, but in the end it had helped him remember her.

"Allison, Allie," David replied, staring at the floor. "My parents didn't exactly jump for joy when I started dating her, much less when I married her. She was kind of a free spirit, an actor and an artist. Not exactly whom I thought I would fall head over heels for, but, sounding corny as shit here, she completed me. I needed her."

David pushed himself off the wall and sat down on the bottom step, looking up at Owen. "If it wasn't for those girls, if it wasn't for…" David caught his breath a moment. "Samantha sat with me in the hospital and took me home. Elizabeth came over that night after I got the voicemail message about the baby, and Lynnae helped me work out all the logistics and keep my business afloat enough." David paused.

"What about Jillian?" Owen asked, not meaning to get caught up in this release, but doing it still.

"I didn't meet Jillian until a couple of months later in grief counseling. She had lost her husband in Iraq a couple of weeks before giving birth to Eve. But even Jillian helped me more than she realizes." David folded his hands in his lap. "I will do anything, and I mean fucking anything to protect those girls. They saved my life. Them being there literally saved my life. Take that as a warning."

Owen's throat felt dry as it dawned on him how far David would go to protect them, and how not finding Elizabeth was probably hurting him. Owen shook his head yes and then went back to the Weevil body, taking DNA samples from the scratches and then processing them through the computer. 

While the test was running he turned back to David. "If you don't mind me asking, when did all this happen?"

"About five years ago," David said as he stood up, one foot still on the steps.

Owen's mind reeled. David lost his Allison around the same time Owen had lost Katie. At least it wasn't aliens that caused that car accident on the expressway, unlike with Katie's brain tumour. Owen turned back to the computer so David could not see him because he felt sure as bloody hell that his poker face was failing him.

"Listen, do you need any help?" David asked.

"Yeah. No. I'll take care of this on my own thank you," Owen said, still not turning around.

He could hear David ascend the stairs and then it was quiet once more in autopsy. Owen let out a deep breath and leaned over the table. He hung his head, thinking of all that David had said, and the implied threat he had really meant. The computer terminal in front of him beeped and Owen looked up at the screen. His jaw opened but no sound came out as he looked at the DNA results from what attacked the Weevil.


	35. Chapter 35

The darkness overwhelmed her. Yet all she could sense was the darkness, and the earth. She concentrated on breathing, in and out, in and out. Feeling her lungs expand slowly and painfully. They did not feel like her lungs.

The air felt alien and she choked as she breathed. Sputtering, a pain shot through her body, up and down her spine into her head. It felt like someone was trying to rip her head open. Nails digging, hair moving, she struggled to look beyond the darkness.

She could feel them nearby, the others calling out to her. She had to stop them, destroy them. It was her destiny and she would be the victor. A primal grunt escaped her lips, acknowledging the urge that rose up from inside her.

Without warning her eyes snapped open and Elizabeth saw red.


	36. Chapter 36

It had been a while since Jack had shut himself up in his office. Everyone else had spent the morning and start of the afternoon working on something; some little thing to still find out what had transpired or something to keep themselves busy. It was definitely time for some coffee, and Ianto was more than happy to oblige. He was also pleasantly surprised that both Jillian and Samantha knew their ways around an espresso machine quite well.

Ianto approached the closed door to Jack's office with both his and Jack's coffee on a small tray. He politely knocked, knowing full well that he could just enter if he wanted. It was a small pretense they kept up while others were around. Unless Jack suddenly sprouted tentacles from his groin, there was nothing on the other side of this door Ianto had not already seen a lot of. That, and sometimes Jack just needed some privacy from Torchwood, and Ianto was more than willing to oblige.

Hearing no response, Ianto opened the door a bit and peered into the office. Jack sat in his chair, legs propped up on the desk, hands on the armrests, and sleeping. It was rare to see Jack sleep, Ianto usually fell asleep before him when they were together and it was actually time to sleep. It was even rarer to see Jack sleep during the day. Although, it had been several long days and Ianto was not aware of Jack sleeping at all during the last couple of days.

Ianto quietly stepped inside the office, shutting the door behind him. He put the tray of coffee cups down on top of a flat pile of papers on Jack's desk. Ianto walked around the desk and stood in front of Jack. Still Jack did not wake up. Normally Jack could sense Ianto this close to him.

"Jack," Ianto said softly, not wanting to surprise him.

Jack stirred, but still slept. When Ianto looked closely, he could see movement underneath Jack's eyelids as he dreamt. Ianto then noticed Jack's hands tensing up, gripping the armrests. Ianto moved closer, touching Jack's knee, meaning to shake him awake. That was when Jack attacked.

Jack awoke but he did not seem awake to Ianto who suddenly found himself held by the wrists in a vise-like grip. Jack spun him around, pinning him to the desk, a look of pure fury on his face. That look shook Ianto to his core. It was a look he knew Jack was capable of but had never seen, even when he had betrayed them, or when Owen–

Ianto unexpectedly found himself eyeing the barrel of Jack's Webley as it pointed straight at him and Jack pinned him down, his other hand on Ianto's throat. The sound of shattering glass seemed to snap Jack out of whatever memory he was lost in. Something this intense could only be a memory, but of what, Ianto was afraid to know. 

Jack's eyes seemed to focus and Ianto could see the realization flit across his blue eyes. Jack took a breath and un-cocked his vintage pistol, pulling it back from Ianto's head. Ianto hazarded a glance at the Webley, having not comprehended that it had been fully ready to fire just a moment ago. Jack stepped back, letting Ianto sit up on the desk.

Ianto's hands clasped over Jack's left hand before it could leave his chest. He felt a small shudder shake through Jack, but it seemed like Jack was back with them in the here and now. Jack put the gun on his desk and wrenched his hand away from Ianto, stepping back.

"Ianto," Jack rasped out.

"I'm okay," Ianto said as he fought the urge to rub his wrists where Jack had seized them.

"Ianto, what have I done?" Jack looked bewildered.

"You were apparently dreaming," Ianto stated as he stood up from the desk. He took a step forward, a hand reaching out to Jack. "I'm okay."

Jack moved backwards and then turned around, striding over to the railing that led down to his private quarters. He put his palms down on the railing and hunched over it, his back to Ianto.

"If I was dreaming that means I was sleeping and I do not recall falling asleep." Jack's voice shook slightly. Only someone who knew him as well as Ianto did would notice it.

"It's been a long couple of days, and I do not recall you sleeping in that time." Ianto stepped forward, putting his hand on Jack's back. He could feel Jack's muscles twitch, but the older man did not pull away.

"This is still not like me and you know that," Jack stated, his head hanging down.

"If you don't mind me asking, what were you remembering in your dream?" Ianto questioned. 

His hand slid across Jack's back, across his waistcoat. It then trailed down the sleeve of his dark blue shirt and stopped over his hand. Ianto gave Jack's hand a squeeze and then pried it up off the railing, holding tight to Jack. Jack stood up, not letting go of Ianto and looked him in the eyes.

"I really don't know," Jack said slowly. He swallowed hard. It looked like the nightmare still lingered in his eyes. "But I have a feeling…"

"Yes," Ianto asked, pressing Jack.

"I have a feeling it has to do with the kids."

Before Ianto could respond, the door to Jack's office sprung open. Gwen took a couple of hurried steps in and stopped. She looked at the boys, looked down at them holding hands, and then back up at them. Her cheeks were flush and she looked harried.

"If I'm not interrupting anything," Gwen intoned.

"What is it Gwen?" Jack gave her an exasperated look.

"It appears that Tosh found something, four somethings to be precise," Gwen hurriedly said.

Jack and Ianto exchanged a look and then headed for the door. Ianto caught sight of both his and Jack's coffee cups shattered on the floor of the office. They were so cracked Ianto figured they were irreparable. At the door, Jack let go of Ianto's hand. Ianto fought the urge to grab it back. He was gaining as much comfort from Jack as Jack had been stealing confidence and calmness from him.

"Tosh, what do you have," Jack said as he entered the main area of the Hub. He rushed past Gwen and Owen's desks, coming up behind Tosh's back.

Tosh was standing at her workstation as she most often did, her eyes darting between the five screens she had up there. Jack stood right behind her, looking over her shoulder. Owen stood to the side, arms crossed, still in his lab coat from earlier. Gwen stood next to Jillian, Lynnae, Samantha, and David who were clumped closer to the settee, still able to see the workstation. Ianto strode over and stood next to Owen.

"About twenty minutes ago I started picking up four distinct signature readings. One is in Cathays off Crwys Rd, another is in Splott on Tyndall Street, one more is in Grangetown by Corporation Road, and the other one is in Canton by Lansdowne Road."

"They are four separate entities, but they all have the same energy signature. It is very organic in nature, and unless we had been scanning for them," Tosh continued on, "we would not have found them."

"Are you telling me these are Timorox signatures Tosh?" Jack asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. 

"They appear to be similar, just slightly different." Tosh continued searching the CCTV footage for the origins of the energy signature. "Wait!" Tosh clicked a couple of keys and brought up sensor readings from earlier. "Damn it! I saw this energy signature earlier, for just a moment earlier."

"When, Tosh?" Owen stopped leaning against her desk and stood up.

"When the ship disappeared earlier. About thirty seconds before it disappeared the computers registered the energy signature and then the signal stopped broadcasting about a minute after that." Tosh pushed her glasses up her nose, and squinted at the screen a moment.

Tosh then brought up a map of Cardiff. Green dots indicated the original location of the four signatures from hours earlier. Red dots continued to move as she tracked the new readings.

"They seem to be converging on the center of town," Ianto stated. What Ianto did not say was that they were originally placed in the compass points of Cardiff.

"The Eastern location, in Splott, that's near where we picked up the decimated Weevil body," Owen stated pointing at the map.

"Wait. What happened to the Weevil?" Gwen asked. 

"It was nearly torn apart," Owen said. "Something killed a Weevil by trying to rip it apart with its bare hands."

"Tosh I need visual now," Jack demanded.

"Hold on, they keep staying out of the field of vision of the cameras." Tosh kept typing away, as CCTV images kept populating the main computer screen in front of her. One would pop up and then disappear, replaced by a new camera shot. "Got one!"

In one corner of the screen was a figure, short dark hair, pretty muscular looking, definitely British. The thing that made him stand out in a normal street scene was how he looked. His trousers seemed dirty, his polo shirt was dirty, and had sweat stains along with other stains on it. His hair was matted and he had the beginnings of scruff on his face. He also seemed intent on going forward. Nothing seemed to distract him.

Ianto saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his head just enough to spot Gwen scurrying over to her desk. She typed away at her computer, flipping over a couple of papers that were on top.

"Tosh, I just sent you a photo of one of the abductees. Can you compare it to our wanderer on the screen?" Gwen grabbed up the papers off her desk and walked over to the other side of Tosh, next to Jack.

Tosh ran the facial recognition software on the screen to her left. Within seconds it proved to be a positive match. Jack looked up at the information and licked his top lip. Ianto found himself wondering that if this was a match for one of the taken, what did it mean that there were only four energy signatures and not 36.

"Who is it Gwen?" Jack asked.

"Duncan McAllister. His wife reported him missing, said he had run back in to the hotel to get something for the kids," Gwen supplied.

Another CCTV shot popped up. Tosh froze it and enlarged it. The other group stepped forward.

"Stop! That's Elizabeth," Jillian cried out.

Samantha moved up behind Tosh. "Holy crapbuckets! What the hell happened to her?" Samantha turned around exchanging a look with David and Lynnae.

There on the screen was not the cute blonde they had researched. In fact, after she had been attacked by the Weevil, she had looked healthier than she did now. Elizabeth dragged her feet down the alley she was plodding through. Her hair looked damp and stringy, her body slouched over, and her clothes stuck to her body. The yoga slacks had a crumpled look, and the tank top did nothing to hide the bruises and scratches on her arms, and showed off her body more than she seemed to before.

"Are you kidding me? What the fuck did that to her?" David promptly had a dark look about him. He moved up behind Samantha. 

Jack quickly shot all of them a look to quit crowding Tosh. Ianto stepped back, almost to Gwen's work area, where he could still see the monitors. Jillian noticed and motioned for Samantha, Lynnae and David to move back, which they did begrudgingly. Gwen even moved back to her work area, pulling up the rest of the photos of the victims to compare them to whatever Tosh found.

Tosh finally pulled up another CCTV image, minimizing the one of Elizabeth. In that image was a blonde woman, her hair tied back, but she was up against a wall, looking territorial. Blood splattered her pale pink top and khaki pants. She huddled over her belly, which was showing signs of pregnancy. 

"Jessica Carter, 25, another one of the victims," Gwen supplied from her desk. She continued to look between her computer and Tosh's work area.

"Tosh, where is Jessica at now?" Owen hurriedly asked.

"She's near Millennium Stadium. It appears she was in Splott and is working inwards. Why?" Tosh hazarded a glance at Owen.

Ianto found himself wondering just what Owen was getting at as he watched the doctor make a fist with his right hand. 

Owen turned to Jack. "We have a problem. That Weevil was killed by a pregnant human. Now, we can assume any pregnant woman in Cardiff could be pissed off enough to rip apart a Weevil with their bare hands, but I am willing to bet it is our pregnant survivor with the blood stains all over her." Owen cocked his head at Jack and shrugged his eyebrows.

"A human," Gwen interrupted, "ripped apart a Weevil?"

"All evidence points to that. And I am willing to bet that if I got a hold of Miss Jessica Carter, her DNA would match the DNA I found in the Weevils wounds and on its boilersuit." Owen crossed his arms across his chest.

"Okay," Jack stated as he put his hands on his hips. "We have to get them and bring them in. Since we don't know what they have been through nor what they can do now, no one is engaging them alone." Jack looked at his team. "We'll split up. Tosh will stay here and keep tabs on our survivors, providing her updates to all of us."

"What about us? We can help," Lynnae offered, stepping forward.

"No."

"That is so stupid–"

"No!" Jack turned on her, his head up, glaring at her. He then pointed a finger at her, accentuating his points. "We don't know what they can do. You are not used to situations like this, and we do not need any more victims to worry about is that clear?"

Lynnae looked like she was about to say something, but instead kept silent and turned away from Jack, huffing over to the settee.

"We can only grab one at a time. Gwen and Owen will go and get Miss Carter." 

Gwen and Owen both nodded assent and Owen headed down into autopsy, shedding his lab coat as he went. Ianto looked over at Jack.

"And us Sir?" Ianto put his hands on his hips, pushing out his suit jacket.

"Ianto, we'll go after Elizabeth, get her back here first." Jack turned to Samantha since Lynnae kept ignoring him. "We'll get her, but you must realize we don't know what has happened to her in the last day."

"Save Elizabeth first and then we'll get those bastard Timorox," David chimed in.

Ianto pulled an earpiece out of an inner pocket of his suit, tucking it into his ear. Ianto strode over to the rack and grabbed Jack's great coat, holding it out for him as Jack came back from the armory and held a gun out to Ianto.

"Whoa! What the fuck?" Samantha jumped forward almost in their face.

Ianto looked down at the gun and then at Samantha's excited face. He inwardly groaned and looked at Jack.

"We won't be using it on Elizabeth. It's just to protect us, and Elizabeth in case the aliens come back," Jack said.

"That better be it," David intoned.

Owen ran back up the stairs from autopsy, his leather coat on and a black bag flung over his shoulder. Gwen slipped on her earpiece that she had pulled out of her desk drawer. Suddenly Tosh muttered a swear word and let out a groan.

"Damn it! She bolted," Tosh said as image after image of the street where Jessica had been popped up on her screen.

"What's going on, Tosh?" Gwen came up behind her.

"Jessica, she just ran off on me. I think she saw some threat," Tosh stated.

"Better running than ripping the postman to wee bits," Owen interjected.

"That's it, I can't find her," Tosh said as she pulled back from the computer.

"All right, change of plan. Owen and Gwen, you two grab the gentleman first, but keep an eye out for our savage mother." Jack nodded and then headed out the main cog door of the Hub. 

"Got it," Owen said to no one in particular.

Ianto looked back and saw the yellow lights above the door reflect off the children's faces. Worried was an understatement. Gwen and Owen hurried out past Ianto. As he headed for the door, Ianto looked at Tosh over his shoulder. She gave him a reassuring smile and then he left, the door rolling shut behind him.


	37. Chapter 37

David snapped his laptop shut, cutting off anything Barbarella could say to him. There was nothing he could do. There was not one Goddamn thing he could fucking do and that pissed him off. He drummed his fingers on the top of the computer and looked up, catching Jillian's eye.

When those other people had left without them, leaving them behind like some nincompoop children, David had secreted himself to the conference room so he wouldn't punch anyone or any of the cool equipment. Also, unknown to Torchwood, he had been monitoring their communications through Barbarella so he wouldn't be surprised again. Minutes later Jillian had appeared with Oso, her little laptop.

He silently watched as Jillian picked up Oso and switched chairs for the one next to him. She didn't even pretend to type, just sat there. She then reached over and placed her soft hand over his, stopping the drumming.

"At least we know she is alive," Jillian said quietly.

"But at what cost?" David craned his head to squarely look at her. 

"What do you mean?" Jillian pulled her hand away, placing both of hers in her lap.

"Doesn't it piss you off that we did nothing to save her? They just threw her back like some random piece of crap? And just what the fuck did they do to her?" David took a deep breath trying to calm down before he started losing it. It had never dawned on him how much these girls meant to him, until someone tried to take them away from him. "Do not tell me you didn't notice how she looked? Did you see her eyes? That was not Beth."

"That's what scares me more than when she was missing," Jillian said, staring down at her hands.

"If she's gone–"

"We don't know that!" Jillian's head snapped up as her voice bit into him. "Until they bring her back, we don't know, okay."

"I don't know about you, but I am tired of losing people. Allie, the baby, Sam's mom, now my grandma's losing her battle with cancer…" David's voice trailed off as a lump of sorrow caught in his throat.

"I waited five weeks from the time my husband went MIA to when they confirmed that he was killed in action. Five weeks, pregnant and alone, and I survived somehow. We only have an hour, maybe, to wait to see what our next step will be." Jillian gulped down a breath and then looked at David, her brown eyes dark in the conference room. They seemed to pierce right through him. "We have her. We can start with that."

David wondered just what Jillian had lived through to get to this point in her life. Oh sure, he knew her and trusted her with his life, but there were gaps in what they knew. Part of her needing the grief counseling had been brought on by postpartum depression, but inside she had this silent strength and compassion. David often wondered just where she had gotten that from.

Jillian's mobile rang and she pulled it out of her pocket, glancing at the screen. "Looks like it's bedtime," she said as she flipped it open. "Hello sweetheart," she said.

David stood up from the table and walked out of the conference room giving Jillian and Eve some privacy. He sauntered out into the Hub and spotted Lynnae and Samantha talking in hurried and hushed tones over on the settee. They didn't seem to notice him, so he went over by the workstations. 

As he came upon Tosh, she turned to him, giving him a warm smile. He felt compelled to go by her. Staring at the computer screens, he didn't say a word, but rather listened as she rattled off information to the teams out in the field. Tosh's voice soothed over him and he worked on believing Jillian's optimism about Elizabeth.


	38. Chapter 38

"Where are we at, Tosh?" Jack asked as he wheeled up Greyfriars Road.

"The police responded to a disturbance in a car park on Greyfriars Road. The entrance is on your left between the Q Bar and Varsity," Tosh told Jack over his earpiece.

"Got it," Jack said as he pulled the SUV to the left, next to a police car, and jumped out of the driver's seat.

One consistency that seemed to affect all the victims so far was that they were sure fast all of a sudden. Both Elizabeth and Duncan covered ground as if they were marathon runners in the race of their lives. Perhaps they might be.

"Oh bloody hell," Jack heard a slightly familiar voice say from the far side of the police car.

Jack looked up and was none too pleased to see PC Andy Davidson in front of him. Jack hadn't been thrilled when Tosh told him the police had already responded to the disturbance, but seeing that it was Andy really irritated him for some reason.

"I should have known, bloody Torchwood. Fob me off why don't you?" Andy slammed the door shut and walked around to the other side of the car. 

"Constable," Jack said as he strode up to Andy.

"I bet this has something to do with the whole hotel thing, too, doesn't it?" Andy asked as he let out a sigh.

"Why do you say that," Ianto said as he moved up behind Jack.

"Because," Andy said drawing out the word, "It looks like the description of one of the missing people is getting the shit beat out of him by some woman. I was just calling for back-up."

"You can stand down PC Davidson," Jack said as he started for the entrance to the car park. "Call dispatch and tell them you won't be needing back-up. In fact, you can go, too. Torchwood is taking care of this."

"Of course you are," Andy said. "Just like you are helping those other people who accused you of poisoning them?" 

Jack quirked a questioning eyebrow at Andy then headed into the parking facility. Ianto on his heels. Jack and Ianto kept close to the walls, until they reached the third level. The sounds of a fight reached their ears. Jack pulled out his pistol from the holster on his belt and crept closer. The sight that met his eyes made him stop.

About 20 metres in front of him, in the middle of several open spaces between cars, was Elizabeth and some young kid battling it out. All of a sudden it dawned on him what Andy had said. He said a woman was beating up on one of the victims, then that would mean–

"I think he was one of the ones that went missing also," Ianto whispered to Jack.

"Just what I was thinking," Jack said as he took notice of how many cars were on the third level alone. Jack touched his earpiece. "Tosh, I need this garage shut down. Make sure no one comes in until I say so, is that clear?"

"I'm on it," Tosh replied and Jack could hear her typing away before the communication shut off.

"Now what," Ianto queried, moving to the other side of the building column they were hiding behind.

Before Jack could answer, a primal growl could be heard from the combatants. Jack was unsure which one had made the sound, but it made him look up. Just as he did so, Elizabeth punched the boy in the jaw with a right uppercut. The boy took the blow on the chin and Jack winced as he heard the teeth knock together.

The boy stumbled backwards and then regained his footing, crouching down and charging right at Elizabeth's midsection. She stepped to her right, letting him fly past, but before she could turn around, he caught his balance and pivoted on his left heel, slamming his left elbow into her lower back. Elizabeth fell to her knees, grabbing at her back.

The boy raised both his hands above his head, clasping them together. He started to move them together in a downward swing when Jack decided enough was enough. He raised his pistol in the air and fired off a shot trying to distract them.

Neither of them paid the noise any heed. The boy's double fist came crashing down into the middle of Elizabeth's head. He then flattened his palms against her skull, tangling his fingers in her hair as she started to keel forward. Suddenly her hands shot up and closed around his wrists so hard Jack could see how white her knuckles were.

Elizabeth propped herself up on one knee and continued his forward momentum, flipping the boy by his wrists over her head and smacking him down to the concrete floor on the full of his back. He let out a howl as he wriggled in agony on the floor. Elizabeth grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed his upper body down, banging his head against the ground again.

Jack merely exchanged a look with Ianto and both of them sidled around the opposite side of the building column heading for Elizabeth and the boy. Jack holstered his Webley and charged at Elizabeth, slamming his shoulder into her, making her let go of the boy. She fell to the ground, but quickly scrambled back to her feet.

She ran for Jack, a snarl in her throat. Elizabeth threw both fists into Jack's chest and he grabbed her by the shoulders trying to hold her back. She pushed him against a nearby car, pinning him there. Her strength was unbelievable for what she had just gone through in the fight. Elizabeth continued to pound her fists into his chest. He pushed her away enough to get off the car, but they continued to move as she rained down blows on his upper body and jaw. 

Jack let out a small cry as the boy slammed into Elizabeth's back, pushing Jack into the side of the car, the mirror jabbing into his back. Suddenly the boy disappeared and Jack thought he saw Ianto's head beyond Elizabeth's shoulder. Elizabeth's hands encircled his neck and began to squeeze. Jack tried to fight her off but she was strong. His vision began to darken as he couldn't gain any leverage against her. He wasn't sure just when he blacked out.

_Struggling at the edge of consciousness, Jack felt warm in many ways. Hanging from his neck was a little blonde-haired girl, giggling and teasing, holding tight to him as he swung her up from her tormentor. The little dark haired boy, slightly older than her, stuck out his tongue at the little girl and pouted. Yet the boy's dark eyes laughed despite his roguish behaviour. Jack put his hands under her legs and held her high, close to him, laughing as the boy suddenly tried to climb his legs._

Gasping for air, it took Jack a moment to realize where he was. The cold concrete under his arse helped to reiterate the point. He opened his eyes as a cool breeze swept across him. Jack pushed himself up and looked around. Ianto was a little behind him, his gun out and keeping watch on the main entrance.

"You're awake. Good." Ianto turned towards Jack and he could see a small trickle of blood from the side of Ianto’s mouth. "I'll get the SUV," Ianto said as he holstered the gun and took off heading for the lower levels.

Jack pushed himself up to his knees and propped one up, leaning against it. Looking around he found himself between the two crumpled forms of Elizabeth and the boy. Jack hung his head as the ghost images flittered out of his mind.


	39. Chapter 39

"You drugged her and stuffed her into a cage!" Samantha wanted to smack something, anything, and Dr. Harper was starting to look good and ready for a beating.

"We used tranquilizers on all three of the victims and they are all in the cells for their own good," Owen stated, nearly spitting each word out through clenched teeth.

"What the hell did you use to knock them out? They've been out cold for four hours!" Samantha slammed her hand down on the stretcher in autopsy, keeping it between her and Owen should she not be able to resist the urge to punch.

"Pentobarbital."

"What the hell! She's not some fucking elephant, or some experiment," Samantha said stalking off and up the stairs heading into the main area of the Hub.

Instead of finding the sanctuary she was hoping for, Samantha barely stopped herself from colliding with Lynnae coming downstairs carrying both Spock, and Samantha's laptop, Data.

"Hey! Watch it," Lynnae said, shoving Data into Samantha's chest.

"I was trying to get upstairs, to some peace and quiet," Samantha snarled.

"Yeah, that ain't happening," Lynnae stated as she sat on the steps midway down to the lower level.

"Now what?"

"David and Jillian got into an argument with Ianto and Gwen, and the almighty Captain is doing jack-shit about any of it." Lynnae balanced her laptop on her knees and began to type away.

Owen mumbled something and turned to his computer, his back to the girls. Samantha grunted out a sigh and plodded back down to the lower level and put her laptop on the stretcher, pulling over the rolling stool. She took the computer out of sleep mode as soon as she sat down. Immediately there appeared an instant message on her screen, along with a nice loud warp engine sound. Owen turned back around and glared at her. Samantha quickly muted the speakers on her Mac, and opened the message.

"By the way, I think they are hiding something. Every time I go past Tosh, she keeps minimizing something on her screen." The message was from Lynnae.

Samantha typed back on her computer. "Just great. Why did we trust them in the first place?"

"You were the one who decided we should go with them, if I recall. Not my choice," Lynnae typed back.

"It seemed like the best idea at the time. I didn't see any brilliant ideas being pooped out of your butt." Samantha turned around at this and shot Lynnae a look.

"Better than being pooped out your face."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean," Samantha typed back.

"I don't know. I'm getting tired of this. I'm losing it."

"You're telling me. This scares me."

"You're scared?" Lynnae cleared her throat.

Samantha looked at Lynnae, then turned back to her computer. "This I cannot fix," she typed back. "I honestly don't know what to do. No problem-solving prowess will help now."

There was no response from Lynnae, and except for the clicking of machinery, there was an angry silence in the lab. Samantha opened a browser and looked up the long-term effects of heavy dosing of Pentobarbital. If it wasn't for the blanket of quiet over the lab, Samantha might not have heard he conversation above them.

"Jack, I need to talk to you," a voice said in the main area of the underground base above them.

"What is it Gwen?" 

So it was Jack and Gwen. Samantha smirked to herself.

"We have to do something to help Elizabeth," Gwen said.

"We are Gwen. Owen is trying to figure out what was done to them, and Ianto and Tosh are researching the Timorox."

"Jack, we have to help her. You know what she is to me," Gwen stated.

Samantha's head popped up and she just looked ahead. In front of her she could see Owen take notice of the conversation as his back got very stiff and straight.

"We are doing all we can. Don't you think we want to help them?"

"Jack, she's my da–"

"Oi! Quit yammering!" Owen called out rather loudly and brashly. "You better get down here."

Samantha and Lynnae turned to each other from their respective positions. Samantha raised an eyebrow in question and Lynnae hurriedly buried her head back into her computer, typing away furiously. Above them Jack and Gwen peered into the lab.

"What is it, Owen?" Jack leaned his body over the railing, his hands in the pockets of his trousers.

"You might want to get the others. There's something you need to see." Owen looked straight at Jack. His whole demeanor exuded seriousness. Samantha was even willing to bet that if she could fully see Owen's face it would be his "Mr. Serious" face.

"I'll go and get the others," Gwen said, not even looking at Jack as she turned and scampered into the main area.

Jack descended the other set of stairs not being occupied by Lynnae. "What do you have?"

"I think it's worse than any of us thought," Owen replied.

Samantha sat up straight on the stool as a shiver ran through her. He couldn't be talking about Elizabeth. He had better not be talking about Elizabeth. Samantha swallowed hard and closed the cover of her laptop as she heard footsteps above her. Hazarding a glance skyward, she saw that Gwen, Tosh, Ianto, David, and Jillian had assembled around the railing.

Owen changed the projection onto the wall of the lab to a 3-D image of Elizabeth. "We were trying to figure out what had changed in the victims. What you guys told us about Elizabeth did not seem to coincide with the person we have in the cells downstairs." Owen took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I know why."

The image on the screen rotated and zoomed in on an area of the back of her neck near the hairline. "On Elizabeth and Lewis, the teenager you two brought in," Owen said indicating Jack and Ianto. "They have longer hair, it's not as obvious. But Duncan's hair is short and Gwen and I spotted it right away." A small mass was highlighted on the anatomy. "They all seem very primal, very intent on attacking, fulfilling some mission or something, and their strength and persistence has had a massive boost. It's because of this."

The highlighted area enlarged on the wall above her and Samantha found herself squinting at it. It looked like a small circular box. But what intrigued her was when the graphic changed and showed the x-ray, letting them see that this thing was truly, absolutely attached to Elizabeth.

"This is an alien implant. Inside the metal alloy was once a piece of living tissue. I thought about just removing the implant, but each successive x-ray and bio scan only revealed how much of a bad idea that would be." The graphic changed to just the alien device. "Those little tubes are metal probes that pierce the skin and then, through a series of micro-fibroid attachments, are connected to the blood vessels, spinal column and into the brain stem. With each breath they take, that piece of alien moves, like it is trying to be alive."

"What does this mean, Owen?" Gwen gripped the railing in front of her, looking down at Owen with her big eyes.

"Until I can figure out how to remove the implant without causing brain damage, or worse, I don't know how we can help them." Owen looked back at Jack. "And I don't know if it will harm them even more."

"What do you suggest we do," Jack asked.

"I really don't know yet," Owen stated.

"We could freeze them," Tosh suggested.

"We could do what?" David's voice rose in anger.

"What if we cryogenically freeze them until we knew how to pry it away from their bodies?" Tosh looked down at Owen.

"It could work," Owen started to say.

"You want to make our friend a popsicle?" David moved in between Tosh and Gwen.

"Torchwood has been using alien cryogenics since the Victorian times," Ianto supplied.

"Ok, goody! Archaic and alien, even better!" Samantha muttered incoherent words, even to herself, under her breath.

"Maybe the cryogenics alone will stop the implant," Jillian stated.

"What the hell! Are you on their fucking side now?" David glared at Jillian.

"There are no sides if it helps Elizabeth," Jillian stipulated.

"You said it was suddenly moving," Ianto asked.

"Yes, like it was connected to them biologically," Owen replied.

"I wonder if that's what it meant," Ianto muttered.

"What _what_ meant?" Jack demanded.

"I was going over the archives and the report from 1897. They were able to translate a little more of what the Timorox were demanding. One of the reasons they want the dead king is so he can help choose the new king." Ianto took a couple of steps down into the lab, each foot on a different step. "Perhaps this is what it intended. He becomes part of them and helps them choose amongst each other."

"If what we saw was them choosing amongst each other, I would hate to see what it was like when they weren't so nice," Jack replied.

"What happened?" Samantha stood up from the stool.

"That still doesn't tell us what the fuck we are doing with Elizabeth," David threw in. "You can't seriously want to throw her in the deep freeze?"

"You can't be so pigheaded to put your macho assertions aside and realize that something you did not come up with could be the best answer," Jillian chimed in.

"All right!" Jack's voice rose above all of theirs. "That is enough!"

Ianto, Gwen and Tosh each stared at Jack from their perches above the lab. David and Jillian continued to stare each other down a minute longer and then abruptly turned towards Jack. Samantha slowly sat back down onto the stool.

"None of this bickering or squabbling like children is going to help anyone. Ianto," Jack said.

Ianto's head popped up as he looked straight at Jack. 

"Do what you need to do. I want the rest of whatever the Timorox said in 1889 translated now."

Ianto shook his head in agreement.

"As for the rest of you: Tosh, you and David will find the pregnant victim, Jessica, and keep tabs on her until we can bring her in. Gwen and Jillian, I need you to find out just what happened to the other victims." Jack turned and looked intently at Samantha. "You will use your hobby and help Owen find out just what we can do to help the victims, all the victims, not just Elizabeth. And you," Jack shifted his gaze to Lynnae, "will help your symbiotic sister here."

"I'm not really good around medicine. Can't I help–"

"You will do it." Jack looked around at them. "What's everyone waiting for?"

"What are you going to do Jack?" Gwen pushed herself off the railing and clasped her hands in front of her body.

"What I need to do. Now go."

There was a moment of hesitation and then Gwen and Tosh turned away, heading into the main area. David and Jillian begrudgingly followed them. Ianto started to head off when Jack stopped him.

"First, I need to see Ianto and Owen in my office," Jack stated. He looked to the two men.

Samantha rolled her eyes, wondering what kind of boys club it would be that the precious women couldn't listen in. She opened her laptop, just staring at the desktop, not even typing anything yet. Her mind was busy trying to formulate whether it should be researching cryogenics or try to track down new theories on human-mechanical symbiotic relationships. She did silently thank Jack for putting that thought into her head.

"Um, all right," Owen agreed as he followed Jack up the stairs out of the lab. He looked back down at the girls. "Do not touch anything in here."

The three men disappeared through the doorway and Samantha let out a sigh, hunching over Data. She found herself wondering what the boys were talking about, and just how quickly had their lives had been turned upside down. It was amazing how idyllic her life now seemed just a couple of days ago. But then again, she understood perfectly well how quickly life could sour when she lost her mother a couple of years ago.

Samantha felt someone standing over and craned her neck upwards. She nearly smacked her head into Lynnae's. "What the hell do you want?"

"We need to go upstairs."

"Why?" Samantha shook her head.

"First of all, if I don't have to be down by the…" Lynnae took a look around the lab. "By the icky stuff, then I don't want to be."

"Fine then," Samantha said as she scooted the stool back and stood up.

"Second of all, we need to do some digging upstairs, in their computers."

"What? Are you fucking insane? Are we going to push them aside and say, ‘pardon me, I need to hack here?'" Samantha glowered at Lynnae.

"They're not upstairs."

"Then where did they go?"

"I'm not sure, but I have a feeling we need to look at those files."

"What files? Oh no, we're not hacking Tosh's computer!" Samantha waved her arms in front of her and stepped away from Lynnae. "That woman will kill us. It's always the quiet ones!"

"Shh! No, I saw her computer already, from Spock. He speaks geek really fluently. She's decrypting some video footage from some other source stream, but it's not done formatting yet." Lynnae advanced on Samantha. "No, we need to hack into Mr. Gross Medical Man's computer system up there. There's a series of files that are encrypted better than the CIA, FBI and the Secret Service combined."

"Then why the heck do you feel the need to see them?"

"They have our names attached to them. I got that much out of them."

Samantha's jaw dropped open as she stared at Lynnae. She had to be kidding. What could be so secretive about them that it would be under that much lock and key? Her mind tried to think of a reason, but she couldn't seem to land on any one specific thought.

"Fine, then let's hurry," Samantha said pointing to the stairs. Lynnae started up them, her boots suddenly loud in small room. "But just how are you going to hack it?"

"You have a better chance being one on one with the computer to get it to talk to you," Lynnae explained as they hit the top of the stairs. She then whirled around, a little electronics device the size of a deck of cards in her hand. "Plus, I nicked this little gem from Tosh's desk earlier, just to borrow it if necessary. I'll return it when we're done. She was using it on a piece of weird technology and it seemed to be transferring a data stream to her computer."

"Nicked? Since when do you say nicked?"

"Since I've been helping edit the Jack Jones novels. Jack says it all the time."

Samantha did not say a thing afraid of what would come out of her mouth. What they were about to do seemed like something out of one of her novels. Now would be the time Nurse Owens would try to convince Jack this was the wrong thing to do, but Nurse Owens never had a file sitting there with her name on it.

She nodded her head yes and followed Lynnae over to Owen's desk. Samantha kept scanning the area. The boys had disappeared into Jack's office behind them, but she could not see them through the windows. Listening intently, Samantha determined the rest of them were working in the conference room. The door was open, but they were inside the room and should not see them either.

Lynnae sat down at the desk, pulling the chair in close. Samantha crowded behind her, hands on the back of the chair, covering up Lynnae and part of the screen. She took a deep breath closing her eyes a moment. This felt so wrong, but part of her wanted to know just what the hell was going on here. It did feel like there was some secret they knew nothing about, some shared thought Torchwood seemed to be having about them.

Samantha opened her eyes and Lynnae was already typing away. Her fingers flew over the keyboard trying a plethora of different passwords and key commands, but nothing was working. Lynnae pulled a little end out of the device she had _nicked_ from Tosh and put it towards the USB dock.

"This is kind of what she did," Lynnae whispered. "I just hope it doesn't fry the entire system."

Samantha let out a small groan imagining every system in the place going down and having to beg Jack to save them from the wrath of that woman. Samantha often came up with stupid ideas like this, but when Lynnae came up with them, they seemed even stupider.

"I really hope you know what you are doing or I am tripping you while I run away," Samantha harshly whispered into Lynnae's ear.

"Hey now, I would at least wait until we were both outside to trip you," Lynnae hissed back.

"Too bad," Samantha murmured. Her breath caught a moment as the screen flickered a second. Thoughts of the worst crash in the history of computers and them being trapped inside the building shot through her mind and she shuddered.

Suddenly the screen changed, box after box popping open on the screen. Data and test results and research files showed up. Samantha tried to read it as they opened but she only caught snatches of what was written. After it seemed like all the files had opened Lynnae leaned back in the chair.

"Told you I was good."

"You were lucky," Samantha stated. She reached down and clicked on the mouse, highlighting a test result screen.

Peering at the screen, she read the results for a series of blood work that was done on them. It took her a minute to remember the blood sample they had given when Owen showed up to doctor them after the food poisoning incident.

"I can't figure out what he was aiming for with all this blood work," Samantha muttered more to herself than to Lynnae.

"Yeah well, they sure did the research job on us," Lynnae said as she scrolled through a series of files she had keyboard commanded to the other screen above the desk. "They have everything here from my parents birth history, to my first driver's license to my last doctor's exam."

Samantha clicked on the DNA tests she saw listed and scanned them. "What are these numbers?"

"What numbers?" Lynnae's eyes darted over to the screen Samantha was using.

"The numbers under our names? What do they correspond to?" It was the same five numbers over and over again, in various pairings, or in Jillian's and Samantha's cases, in triplicate. She stared at the DNA match stream and her mind started buzzing. It couldn't be, but she knew what it looked like.

"Those numbers have something to do with Torchwood. Maybe ID for some test subject. Why? What's going on?" Lynnae stared at her. "I hate when you get that scared look."

"I don't have a scared look."

"Yes you do."

"It's a DNA test. Those aren't random couplings, those correspond to parental data." They were related. They were all related in some way. Her and Elizabeth were related. Her and Lynnae were related. Her and Jillian were related. Even her and David were related. They were all related, and if those numbers had something to do with Torchwood, that meant they were part of Torchwood. How on Earth could that even be possible?

"Those are Torchwood identification numbers," Lynnae responded.

Samantha numbly turned her head to look at Lynnae's screen. On it were file photos of the five members of Torchwood they were dealing with at the moment, with the same numbers under their photos. Lynnae looked from the photos to the DNA test. Samantha could see the realization sink in as she observed Lynnae turn white.

She heard a door close behind her. Before she could respond a hand clamped down on her shoulder, spinning her backwards. Samantha looked up into the furious face of Owen Harper, or if the data was correct, _one_ of her fathers. Her breathing shallow, she couldn't say a word. Her mind simply refused to function while it tried to process the information.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" he yelled at them. He slammed down a pile of papers he had been carrying, sending them flying off the desk.

"We just… we just…" Samantha had no clue how to respond.

"You just decided to go snooping!" He glanced at the screen and then he looked at her in anger. "Is that what you wanted to know? Is that what you fucking wanted to find out?" His voice rose to a pitch that started to hurt her ears. "How fucking dare you!"

Her mind finally snapped. "No! How fucking dare you keep this from us!"

"I wasn't keeping it from you! How the bloody hell did you expect me to fucking tell you?" Owen closed the gap between them, his face in her face. 

Samantha could feel the anger radiating off him. "It's not possible."

"It's fucking Torchwood, anything is apparently possible. What the fuck are you gonna do about it?" His finger poked her in the shoulder.

"I… I don't know…" Samantha stammered out.

"Why don't you the bloody hell know? You go snooping where you don't fucking belong! How the fuck–"

"OWEN!"

They both turned to the sound of Tosh's voice yelling at Owen from right next to them. She looked shaken, and glared at only him. Owen seemed taken aback by this. He stepped out of Samantha's personal space, his eyes never leaving Tosh's. Behind her, Lynnae stood up from the chair, almost as if she was ready to run. Samantha's eyes darted behind Tosh and saw David and Jillian standing back.

She couldn't tell them. How could she tell them that everything they had known in their lives was wrong? That seemed impossible. She closed her eyes and hung her head. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Samantha looked up and seeing that it was Tosh she pulled away.

Samantha hadn't meant to do that, and the hurt look on Tosh's face spoke volumes to just how true the tests were. Samantha ran past them and scurried down the steps into the lab. She ran around the stretcher to the wall, her back to the Hub at large and slid down it, until she was sitting on the cold floor. It was then that she put her head between her knees and tried to cry for the loss of her mother and father.


	40. Chapter 40

Pain. Want. No! _Need_.

Elizabeth's eyes popped open as she laid back on what she did not know. She slowly sat up, her body screaming. Her back, her legs, her arms, even her head throbbed in immeasurable pain. Everything seemed to ache. But beneath all that was an underlying urge. No! It was a _need_.

She breathed heavily, a growl escaping her lips. They were near. She could sense them. She would crush them. If it weren't for that man interfering she would have destroyed one already. She would have been on her way to being the victor.

She slowly looked around her jail. It was pretty gray; porthole door on one side, blank walls opposite her little cot that was attached to that wall, and then a glass wall. She smirked out the side of her mouth. Standing on the other side of the glass was a dark-haired woman who stood there staring at her, one hand on the glass.

"Like what you see?" She sneered at the woman.

The woman had a look of pain mixed with disgust on her face.

"Soon you will bow to me," she said. Or she thought she said. It didn't quite feel like her words. Her mouth felt like it shaped them differently.

"Elizabeth," the woman said softly.

"Yes?" Elizabeth found herself reaching out for the woman. Wanting her to use her name again. Wanting to be herself again.

"Elizabeth. I'm Gwen," the woman said.

Elizabeth ran to the glass, slamming into it, but Gwen did not pull back. Elizabeth's eyes suddenly grew wide. She could sense them. The others were nearby. It would be all hers. Elizabeth growled under her breath.

"Give them to me," Elizabeth demanded of Gwen.

She saw Gwen look to the side at the other cells. "I can't do that, sweetheart."

"I'm not your sweetheart." She brought both fists against the glass. "Give them to me!"

"No. This is not you. This is not the person your friends told me about." Gwen shook her head slowly side-to-side.

Elizabeth laughed. It was a loud and abrasive laugh that chilled even Elizabeth to the bone. It chilled the small part of Elizabeth that remained, letting the monster she had become take over her. She tried to fight it. Inside her body, her soul tried to wage war against what they had done to her.

"Please… oh god…" Suddenly her mind snapped again. "Give them to me! I demand it."

"I will not give them to you," Gwen stated. Instead she pushed something through one of the air holes in the glass. "I will give you this."

Elizabeth snatched it from Gwen's fingers and dropped it into the palm of her hand. It was a dragon, a red dragon pendant on a thin silver chain. She could remember this. It was her favorite pendant. She had it for as long as she could remember. She used to joke that it was her lucky pendant, her special protective charm. Slowly she undid the clasp and put it on around her neck. As she touched the back of her neck, she felt the device.

Unexpectedly her mind recalled all that they had done to her. Slamming her and the only remaining survivors down on the _sacred circle_. Bit by bit the other survivors had been taken. The red blood that was dried on the sacred circle only corroborated what had happened to them. 

Elizabeth verbally cried out as she remembered them beating her as she tried to run, to get away when one had accidentally loosened his grip. She could still feel the heavy shackles on her wrists and ankles holding her tight to the circle, face down, her cheek resting in a small pool of some other poor soul's blood. Then there was the chanting, and the sobbing. She couldn't recollect if she had cried. Then she felt the blinding pain.

She wrapped her fingers around the pendant, squeezing it until she could feel the sting as it cut into her hand. She ripped it off her neck, breaking the chain and dropped it to the ground.

"I will be king," Elizabeth growled, her voice heavy with want, lusting for the kill that would be involved.

Elizabeth struggled against the intruder in her mind. She ran her fingers over her matted hair. Coming to the base of her neck, she wrapped both hands around the device. Shooting Gwen a look, she then pulled the device.

"No," Gwen shouted, hitting the glass.

Elizabeth felt her fingers pulse, and she thought the thing would give away, but then all she saw was black and the sensation of falling to a cold concrete floor.


	41. Chapter 41

It was tearing them apart. This case was tearing the team apart, and it was tearing their children apart. Jack did not realize when he had actually started referring to them as their children. He still wanted the proof, but something nagged at the back of his mind. 

He had one option, one thing they could try, and prove one way or another if they had even had children. He could see the ghost images from the times he had slept and dreamt. Jack tried to not think about how close he had been to hurting Ianto, he could not let his mind go there if he wanted to stay sane. He also vaguely recalled the slight memory he had after the attack in the parking garage.

There was only one thing he could think of to do, and Owen wanted to fight him every step of the way. The mind probe was a risk, especially with the memories he could never let the team even know were in his mind, but it was the only option. None of them could remember what had happened, yet the children sure had a small learning curve when it came to their comfort level in the Hub.

If the children were in their past, Jack was the most likely to remember it. He had been exposed to temporal displacement and temporal shifts enough to be able to retain his reasoning and memories from time to time. He also had the longest life and the most memories buried in his head. His mind had compensated so far, and perhaps, it had once again. He just had to fight the probe revealing everything to the team, there were many things they were better off not knowing, even things he could never see himself admitting to Ianto.

He saved the notes he had been typing up about what he could remember concerning the Timorox and sent them to Tosh. He stood up and stretched, his vortex manipulator catching his eye. If only the Doctor had left it working, or had fixed it completely, he could have been on that ship as soon as Tosh had the coordinates. He could have done a lot of things if it had worked.

Jack exited his office into the Hub. Until they resolved the thing about these phantom memories, he was not even going to think of sleep. He caught Tosh's eye as he walked by her desk.

"Thanks Jack, the info should help, and it will definitely help Ianto," Tosh stated, indicating her computer screen which had the notes he had just sent.

He nodded in assent. "Where's Ianto?"

"I think I finally tracked down Jessica, the pregnant one, and she seems to be staying put for the time. So him and Gwen took the SUV and went after her." Tosh proceeded to tie up her hair and readjusted her glasses.

"Good, stay on top of things. They have a habit of overwhelming you suddenly," Jack said, tucking his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

He glanced over to the settee where Samantha was sitting, tapping away at her laptop. She peered at him over the computer and then hurriedly looked away. Ever since Samantha and Lynnae had found out what Owen had stored on his hard drive, there was an even more intense undercurrent of emotion in the Hub than there usually was. They should have known the kids would have figured it out, especially if they were their children.

"Where are the others?" Jack stepped up next to Tosh, his arse leaning against her desk.

"David and Jillian are down by cryo," Tosh replied not even looking up from the computer screen that reflected on her glasses.

"Right," Jack said, stretching his neck and looking up at the ceiling far above them. About an hour ago, after the incident that Gwen witnessed in the vaults, it was decided to freeze the survivors until they figured out what could be done to save them.

"Owen is–"

"Owen is right here," Owen stated, coming up from autopsy.

"What have you found?"

Owen plopped down into the chair by his desk, shooting Samantha a look as he did so. "Not bloody much. When we froze them and stopped their vitals, it didn't release, but it seems to have gone into stasis with the rest of them."

"Got it," Tosh said into her comm. She then turned to Jack. "Ianto just said they almost found Jessica but she was whisked off in an ambulance. Someone saw a beat-up looking pregnant lady passed out on the street and they called it in."

"Great. Tosh, what hospital are they taking her to?"

"St. Helen's," Tosh replied. 

Jack turned on his heel, hands still in his pockets. "Owen–"

"I know, I know. Get over to the hospital and find out what I can. Got it," Owen said as he jumped up out of the chair and divested himself of his lab coat, the badges rattling when it landed.

Jack took a quick look at Samantha who appeared to be trying to ignore the conversation. "Take her with," Jack said as he nodded his head in Samantha's direction.

Samantha's head popped up. "Oh no really–"

"You have got to be kidding me Jack," Owen said, stopping midway in putting on his coat.

"No, I'm not." Jack pointed at each of them. "You both kind of understand this, so it will help. And, we don't know if the Timorox will be returning soon to check on the progress of their new king. No one goes out there alone."

"Bloody great," Owen muttered.

"Wonderful," Samantha said as she got up and grabbed her leather coat from the rack. She closed her laptop as she walked past it, and then picked up her black backpack, slinging it over her left shoulder.

Jack shook his head in disbelief. Despite not being around when they grew up, these children still had many of the same quirks that each of their parents did, and it was scary to comprehend at times.

"Where's Lynnae?" Samantha asked Tosh. "I should let her know where I'm going so she doesn't freak out again."

"What do you mean where is she?" Tosh replied.

"Wasn't she helping look something up in the archives?" Samantha put a hand on Tosh's desk and leaned in, looking at the internal CCTV.

"There's no cameras in most of the archives,” Tosh responded.

Jack crossed his arms across his chest, watching the interaction. He thought back and realized he had not seen Lynnae since they had froze Elizabeth. She also wasn't too keen on Gwen trying to talk to her and Samantha after they had found the DNA information.

"Great," Samantha muttered. 

Samantha pulled out her mobile and hit one button, calling Lynnae. Jack figured she would have had her on speed dial. They all turned to the settee as it rang with the theme to "Star Trek: Voyager."

"Oh that's not good," Samantha said as she hurried over to the settee and reached down into the cushion and pulled out a blue Blackberry. "What the fuck?"

Jack swung his head towards Tosh who nodded and began clicking away, pulling up CCTV footage around the Hub. She also pulled up the footage from the flat, shaking her head. 

"You have got to be shitting me," Samantha said dropping Lynnae's mobile on the table. "After all the crap she gave me last night about disappearing without telling anyone? I am so going to beat her."

"You two get to St. Helen's, I'll make sure we find her," Jack said.

Owen took one look at Jack and then sighed, taking Samantha by the elbow and leading her towards the cog door. She struggled a moment and then gave in, allowing herself to be led away. Jack was glad they weren't fighting anymore. It did strike his curiosity what kind of child Ianto and Owen had created, and how, just how had she gotten into him? Jack looked down at his stomach pondering it over a moment.

"Found her," Tosh said, breaking his reverie. "She left while we were all distracted, and has gone to a pub called Ganty's." Tosh wrote down the address and handed it to him.

"Thanks Tosh," Jack said, grabbing up his coat. He slipped it on and then stopped, realizing that Gwen and Ianto had the SUV. He shot Tosh a look.

"I do believe Ianto's car is here. He usually leaves the keys upstairs," Tosh supplied, turning back to the computer. Tosh barely paid him any heed as she opened a video file that looked like the Hub. 

Jack hurried out the cog door before it could open all the way. Grabbing Ianto's keys from the drawer behind the tourist office desk he hurried off and drove straight to Ganty's. He parked a couple of doors down and walked over to the pub, which seemed pretty busy so late at night; it was nearly closing time.

He strode through the door, surveying the scene. It was the usual pub crowd. A couple of boys arguing over the latest rugby match, one woman trying to pick up a last minute shag, Lynnae hitting on Rhys, two blokes already beyond sussed–

Jack stopped and looked back by the bar. He wanted to laugh so hard. The only thing that stopped him was realising how bad this could turn out. Out of all the pubs Lynnae had to find, she had to pick the one Gwen Cooper's fiancé came to, and start hitting on said man. Jack rolled his eyes and headed for Lynnae.

He came up behind her, taking her arm. "Pardon me," he said to Rhys.

Lynnae looked up at him and grinned sloppily. "Not you. I'm not going home with you back to that place. I've had enough."

It got even better. She was out of her head. Lynnae was drunk and flirting with Rhys. How could it get worse?

"Hello love, this bloke bothering you?" A sandy-haired man came up on the other side of Lynnae. 

"Who are you?" Jack asked.

"I'm Banana Boat," the man said.

"He's my knight in shining rugby jersey," Lynnae supplied.

Jack tried to resist rolling his eyes. Rhys and his best mate, brilliant! Lynnae tried to pull away from Jack, but he held firm.

"Listen pal, it doesn't look like she wants to go with you," Rhys said getting up from his barstool.

"Yeah well, she doesn't have a choice," Jack said.

"I think the lady does have a choice. Perhaps she would be better with a taxi than with you mate." Rhys lightly touched Lynnae on the opposite arm.

"So many pretty boys," Lynnae murmured. She then reached up and grabbed Rhys by the collar, pulling him in close, kissing him.

Jack watched in disbelief, but then realized who was kissing who. Like bloody hell he was letting this happen. Gwen would have his mini captain bronzed, and not in a good way. Jack put his hands between the two and separated them, pulling Lynnae back.

"Sorry, but she's coming with me." Jack put his hands on her shoulders, holding her steady.

"And just who are you?" Banana Boat sidled up to Rhys, glaring at Jack.

"Her cousin. We were in the middle of a family reunion and she got pissed off and disappeared. Our parents have been worried sick wondering where she was. Now, if you'll excuse me," Jack said, turning Lynnae around.

"I don't want a new daddy," Lynnae babbled, then turned around herself and buried her head in Jack's chest. She tugged on the coat lapels.

"All right, maybe," Rhys said, watching Lynnae.

"Thanks," Jack said as he started walking towards the door. 

As they hit the threshold and the fresh air, Lynnae stumbled forward. Jack caught her before she could crash down or twist an ankle or something. Manouevring her down the street, Jack got her strapped into the passenger side of the car. By the time he walked around the car and slid into the driver's seat, she was passed out.


	42. Chapter 42

Owen peeked at Jessica Carter's medical chart. There wasn't much there he couldn't figure out. He strolled into her room in emergency, putting on a pair of gloves. The doctors had left her body laid out for him before calling for the morgue to take her away. Samantha walked in behind him.

"She lost the baby," Samantha stated, putting her backpack down on the floor next to the gurney.

"They estimated that she lost it earlier this evening." Owen tossed Samantha a pair of gloves and then pulled the sheet down the body.

She had been a beautiful girl, most likely very healthy from all indications. It should have been a relatively easy pregnancy and birth, until the Timorox got a hold of her. He checked her ankles and wrists, along with her legs. Jessica exhibited some of the same bruising the other victims had, most likely from whatever had happened on the ship.

Owen walked around the gurney and put his hands under Jessica's shoulder and head, rolling her onto her side. "Hold her up," he said.

Samantha stood on the other side of the body and grasped the shoulder area, keeping the body on its side. Owen moved her hair back and pulled out a pen light, shining it on the alien implant. Jessica's looked exactly the same as the others. Same markings, same colorization, even the biological looked–

"Bloody hell," Owen muttered. 

He crouched down so he was on eye level with the implant. Samantha tried to look over the body, but couldn't see what he was looking at. The piece of alien was black. In all the other victims it was a muddy grey, but this piece was black.

Owen tapped at the implant casing holding the bio-matter and the implant moved. He grabbed a pair of forceps from a nearby tray and grasped the implant between them. Owen slowly tugged at it. It neatly separated from the skin, micro-probes trailing from small puncture holes at the hairline. He drew the probes out and held it up to the light.

"Is that what I think it is?" Samantha squinted at it, partially blinded by the light pointing her way.

"You bet it is," Owen replied. He placed his free hand on Jessica's shoulder, holding her. "In that metal case I brought in, there's a sample box, a much bigger version of a Petri dish. Bring it over here."

Owen watched as Samantha grabbed the small medical case he had left by the door. A person has been working for Torchwood too long when they start keeping a mini-medical case in the boot of their sports car. Samantha rummaged through the top of the case and pulled out the Plexiglas square. 

She opened it and held it out to him. He gingerly placed the implant inside of it and grabbed the lid, sealing it shut. Putting it down on the tray next to him, he motioned for Samantha to take hold of the body again. Samantha replaced his hand with hers, keeping the body on its side. Owen then stalked over to the case, grabbing it up and brought it back behind the body.

He pulled out a couple of sample kits. He prepped a syringe with an empty vial and felt along the vertebrae. Finding the right spot, he withdrew some of the spinal fluid. He then took a cotton swab and dabbed up a small amount of pus that appeared to be leaking out of the holes the implant had left behind.

Owen prepped another vial and drew a blood sample from the arm. He was lucky she had recently expired, the body was still warm, and malleable. Then he picked up another syringe and tucked a larger vial into it.

"All right, you can lay her down," Owen said.

Samantha lowered the body back onto its back and Owen pulled up the hospital gown, exposing the belly. He jammed the needle into her belly, drawing out a sample of the amniotic fluid.

"What the hell are you doing to my wife?"

Both Samantha and Owen looked up at the screech that originated from the doorway to the room. A young man in a simple polo shirt and trousers bolted over to Owen who was just removing the hypodermic from the body.

"Bloody hell," Owen murmured. Just what they needed, the husband.

"I said, what the hell are you doing to my wife?" The man grabbed Owen by the shoulder, spinning him so they were face to face.

"Listen mate, relax–"

"Like hell I'm relaxing. My wife just died and I find total strangers doing weird shit to her body, to our baby? I'm calling security!" The man ran over and grabbed the house phone off the wall.

"Right, and you can tell them Torchwood is here just doing their job." Owen started packing up the samples into the medical case, placing the implant inside the case last.

"Who the fuck is Torchwood?" The man held the phone away from his ear, glaring so hard at Owen he was surprised his head didn't explode.

"That would be us mate," Owen replied as he grabbed the case and gave Samantha a look.

Samantha picked up her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder and followed Owen out the door, only stopping to grab the medical chart by the door. He could hear the husband follow them out into the hall, whatever he was shouting, Owen didn't deign to listen to. It wasn't the first time Torchwood almost got him punched out by some random stranger.

Hurrying to his car parked in the loading zone outside of emergency, he opened the passenger door for Samantha, then slipped around to the boot, depositing the medical case. He slid into the driver's seat, starting the car up.

"So, what's different about Jessica Carter compared to Elizabeth and the other two?" Samantha turned and looked at Owen as he pulled onto the road.

"Exactly," Owen said.


	43. Chapter 43

Lynnae wondered if she could survive without her head attached. It was the worst pain she had ever experienced. It was one of the few times she had felt pain. She tried to roll over, but the sensation made her body move and that made her head hurt even more. She grabbed at it, groaning loudly.

She sat up and opened her eyes, and screamed. Her body flailed and she could swear she felt herself start to slip. She started shouting every curse word she knew and even some she had made up as a kid. A hand grabbed her arm, making her start again. She looked back and saw Jack sitting next to her, holding her steady.

"Are you insane? How could you do this? Oh God I'm going to die." Lynnae wasn't sure if what she said had even been complete sentences, but she didn't care. Her other hand clasped at Jack's and she held on for dear life.

She hazarded a look down and could swear she had a heart attack right then. The sun was starting to rise and she had a great view, from the roof of the Millennium Centre! Lynnae closed her eyes so tightly she saw stars on a field of black.

"No. No, no, no, no, no, you have to get me down from here! Oh God, please get me down from here." She could feel herself start to hyperventilate. "Why did you do this? Oh please get me down from here. Get me down!" She actually heard the terror in her own voice.

"Good."

"Good? What's so damn good about it?" Her heart pounded in her chest, making it feel four sizes too small to hold such a beast.

"Figured this would sober you up."

"What if I just threw you off this roof?" Lynnae felt herself clawing at Jack.

"Then you would have to get down on your own. And the opening in the roof is about ten feet away."

Tugging on the arm, Jack pulled her up next to him. She could feel her ass moving along the roofing panels. Lynnae whimpered but held on, not opening her eyes. He moved her into a sitting position and then wrapped his arm, the coat and all around her shoulders. Lynnae sank into Jack, her head against his chest, shaking.

"Are you trying to scare the crap out of me?"

"Actually, yes," Jack said.

Lynnae got herself to open just one eye and looked up at Jack. "Why?"

He put his other arm around her, holding her completely. "Because, you scared the hell out of us last night."

"Yeah? How?"

"After all your griping about disappearing, by yourself, you did just that." Lynnae swore she could feel his heartbeat underneath her hands that were clutching at his chest. "Samantha was worried."

"Serves her right. She did the same thing." Lynnae tried to calm herself, tried to remember to breathe.

"And you scared me."

"Why? Because I'm some supposed child of yours? I don't buy it." She didn't. She had no proof except for one little test that they were their children. And even then, it wasn't them that raised her. It took more than DNA to make a father.

"What if I said yes?"

"I don't believe you."

Jack squeezed her shoulders. "How about this? We don't know when those aliens are coming back. We don't know if they knew you were at the hotel. We don't know if they realize you are partially behind why their little competition is stalled. Or perhaps you could just be some yummy treat to them."

Lynnae thought about that for a moment. Jack was right. She should never had gone anywhere alone. Then she realized how she had abandoned everyone else, including Elizabeth. But didn't he get it?

"Okay, okay, okay, I should not have left, alone."

"Then why did you leave?"

"I had to get out of there. Samantha said it earlier. I can't fix this. This whole thing, and then what we saw on Owen's computer, it overwhelmed me." A couple of tears left her eyes, wetting his shirt.

"It's okay, it's understandable. It's a lot to take in at once."

"Yes, but, I like to lead them and I can't deal with all this crap? What does that make me?" She wanted to wipe the tears away, but that would mean letting go of Jack.

"You're all leaders, you just take turns." Jack pulled her in closer to him, so she was nestled up against his body. "You may not be as loud as David or Samantha, or think you are as compassionate as Jillian or Elizabeth from what you told us. A leader does not have to be the most vocal, or the most anything. Just let them do what they have to do and guide them on some of the steps. Do not hinder them."

Jack let out a sigh. "And every leader, every follower has those bad days. Things that just become too much for them, things that tear at their soul. That is okay. You will find a way to get past it, you just haven't figured it out yet."

Lynnae shook her head in agreement. It made sense. She had taken too much inside of her and refused to listen or talk it out with any of them, especially Samantha or Jillian.

"All right, time to go. Get up," Jack said.

"Hell no! I'm not moving."

"I could carry you, but I'd hate to slip and fall and plummet both of us to our deaths."

Lynnae let out a shriek.

"Good thing no one lives right below us, they must be loving me by now," Jack said. She could feel him moving and then his chest pulling away from her.

"What are you doing?" Lynnae clenched her fists around his shirt collar.

"Getting up."

He pried her hands away from his body and put them in her lap. She began to whimper and shake as she felt the coat leave her, her body turning cold where it had been. She then felt his hands around her wrists.

"Open your eyes and stand up." He lightly tugged upwards.

"No! I can't."

"Yes you can."

"Heights scare the ever loving daylights out of me! Have you not noticed this?" Lynnae shook her head.

"Yeah, why is that?"

"I have no clue. They always have. Something just inside me looks down and I feel like I am falling. I feel as small as a child, seeing the Earth fly towards me faster than I can scream."

"You won't fall this time. I'm excellent on roofs. And if you start to fall I will make sure to fall ahead of you so you can land on me." 

Jack started pulling her upwards. She got up on her knees. He then grasped her under her elbows and continued to guide her up. She slowly got to one foot and pushed herself upwards, gripping his arms so tight he would be bruised later. Pulling the other foot up behind her, she stood on shaking legs.

"Good girl."

"What am I, some dog?" She wanted to smack him, but that would mean letting go.

He chuckled. "No, but you are standing on the roof. Why don't you open your eyes?"

She shook her head no, trying not to lose her balance. "Hell no!"

"Don't even look down, just look out. Pretend you're not on the roof." He moved her chin and made her face one direction. 

Jack then took her, and pulled her in to his body, their chests touching. It felt so comforting, she could feel his warmth surround her. She took a deep breath, paused, and then took another deep breath. Steadying herself, she held her head up slightly and cracked open her eyes. Standing there, they met the sunrise head on.


	44. Chapter 44

Gwen sat at her desk trying to roll out the kinks. It had been a really long couple of days, and now it was the next morning, and here she sat, still in bloody Torchwood. She had called Rhys a bit ago, he was still awake, but then again he had gone out with Banana Boat. If Rhys insisted on making him his best man, that fruit had better be around for the wedding. 

Rhys had tried to tell her about some woman getting harassed at the pub he and Banana Boat went to last night, but she really didn't have the heart to listen to him. She took the pile of papers she had been working on and shoved them aside. Everything looked like the only people that survived the hotel were the three they had frozen in the lower levels, and they weren't even sure they could be saved.

The lights above the cog door blinked a bright yellow. Gwen and Tosh both looked up from their desks as Jack and Lynnae came through the door. Lynnae looked really disheveled. She wondered where Jack had found her.

"Where the fucking hell have you been?" David demanded as he got up from the settee and headed over to Lynnae. 

Lynnae shrunk back a little. "I needed some fresh air."

Jack strode past them into the center of the Hub. "Owen," he bellowed.

Owen came running up from autopsy, lab coat billowing outwards, Samantha behind him. Ever since they had come back from the hospital, Owen and Samantha had buried themselves in work down in autopsy.

"Yeah Jack?" Owen put his hands on his hips and regarded their captain.

"That thing we talked about earlier, we need to do it. We need to do it now."

"No. No fucking way am I letting you do it. It can scramble regular human brains, what's it going to do to yours?"

"I'm tougher than I look, get it set-up now." 

Jack took off his coat and Ianto seemed to appear out of nowhere grabbing it from him. Ianto shot both Jack and Owen a look. He then sighed and hung up the coat on a nearby rack. 

"I'll go bring it up from archives," Ianto said, starting to head out.

"No," Owen said.

"Yes," Jack demanded. Jack raised an eyebrow, almost begging Owen to question him again. "It's the only way and you know it, otherwise we would have figured something else out by now."

Owen did not say a word but grumbled and ripped off his lab coat, throwing it angrily to the side. Ianto nodded his head and disappeared towards the special archives. Owen stalked off back to autopsy, clomping down each step, mumbling something with each advancement he took.

"Jack, what's going on?" Gwen stood up and walked over by Jack.

"We're going to try and find out if they are who we think they are," Jack said as he headed into his office. He closed the door behind him.

"Wait a minute, what is going on?" Lynnae asked Tosh.

Tosh shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure."

Ianto came back up from the archives carrying a medium sized box. It looked familiar to Gwen but she couldn't figure out why. She watched as Ianto put the box on Owen's desk and opened the lid. He reached in and pulled out the alien mind probe.

"Oh come now! He cannot be serious. Didn't you say that makes people's heads explode?" Gwen waved her arms in the general direction of the device. 

"Sometimes," Ianto said as he started setting things up in the middle of the Hub.

"Is he certain?" Tosh intoned, looking at Ianto.

Ianto looked at both women. "He's been having ghost memories but can't quite remember them. This is the best idea we could come up with." He then went back to prepping things, bringing forward the chair with the straps at the wrists, ankles and midsection.

"Why Jack?" Gwen looked from Ianto to Tosh.

"He has more memories for them to hide in? Maybe they didn't get all of his." Tosh picked up the probe and started attaching it to the wiring that led to her computer.

Gwen shoved her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. She sauntered over to where the children were standing by the settee. Gwen could not believe this was their only option. What if something happened to Jack? He had barely come back to them and now they could lose him. Sure, maybe not the physical, but if he lost his mind, what would he be like?

Samantha stepped in front of her, a hand up. "Wait a minute. Just what are they planning on doing?"

"They are going to use the mind probe on Jack to dig into his memories and see if he can remember any of you." She let out a sigh.

"Why would he have memories of us?" David butted in.

Samantha and Lynnae looked at each other. Finally Lynnae spoke up. "We need to talk, in private." Lynnae looked around and then pointed at the conference room. "We'll be in there," she said to Gwen. Lynnae led the way and the kids trooped out.

Owen rushed up from autopsy. "So, is our illustrious leader ready to do this stupid thing?"

"Owen, you're not going to let him get hurt are you?" Gwen put a hand on Owen's arm, making sure she had his undivided attention.

"Of course not," Owen said removing her hand from his body. "The last thing I need is Jack-bloody-Harkness haunting me."

Jack's office door opened and he strode out. He had gotten rid of his waistcoat and shirt and only had his undershirt on. Gwen wanted to reach out to him, but something felt different, he seemed different. Jack stopped in front of Ianto who was next to the chair. Without saying a word he weakly smiled at Ianto, but did not touch him. Jack took off his watch and handed it over to Ianto. He then took off his vortex manipulator, handing that over as well. Ianto tucked them into the inner pocket of his suit jacket.

Tosh came over and stood next to Jack as he sat down in the chair. Tosh tightened the belt around his waist and then did the straps around his wrists, and finally around his ankles. Gwen knew it was to keep him safe as well as them, but it seemed so wrong to see Jack vulnerable like this. Jack looked straight at her. Gwen crouched down in front of him. She wanted to touch him, give him some reassurance, but it still felt wrong to do that.

"Gwen, I want you in charge of this," Jack said, his voice low. "You must not stop until you are positive you have dug up or not dug up memories of the children, is that clear?"

Her voice caught in her throat a moment. She nodded her head yes. "Jack, are you sure about this?"

"We need to know. Make sure you probe deep enough," Jack said and took a sip of the water Ianto offered him.

"You know, we could find out whatever we wanted about you Jack, you would have no choice in the matter," Owen said from the computer he had set up to read Jack's bio-signs.

Both Jack and Ianto shot Owen a nasty look. He held up his hands in defence. Gwen hadn't even realized that. They could find out Jack's real name if they wanted. Of course they could also destroy him, too.

"Not like I'm about to do that," Owen said as he picked up the probe and stood behind Jack. "Are you ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Jack said.

Owen nestled the probe onto Jack's head and hurried back over by his screen. Gwen looked at Jack who just nodded at her to get on with it.

Gwen turned to Tosh. "Okay, Tosh."

Tosh turned to her computer and started the probe, digging down. Gwen looked to Owen for confirmation on Jack's health. Owen nodded yes.

"Deeper," Jack said, grimacing from the probe, a deep-etched scowl on his face.

Tosh typed away, instructing the probe further into his subconscious. Jack scrunched up his face but did not cry out. Gwen looked to Owen.

"He's safe."

"Tosh! You have to go deeper, much deeper," Jack cried out, his voice cracking.

Tosh looked to Gwen who reluctantly nodded her head yes. Tosh typed away like a mad woman, going past three layers at once. Jack let out a strangled sob, his face contorting in pain. His hands gripped the arms of the chair, Jack’s knuckles turning white. Gwen and Ianto both turned on Owen as he clicked away, running the scans.

"He's safe." Owen took a deep breath and looked at Jack.

Jack took a hearty breath. "Deeper," Jack demanded, his voice raspy and low.

Tosh turned to Gwen, ready to protest, but Gwen just held up a hand and shook her head yes. Tosh clicked away, digging deep into Jack's subconscious mind. Owen was already checking every scan as Jack cried out, his eyes scrunched shut. His body convulsed forward, wrenching against the bonds that held him.

Out of the corner of her eye, Gwen noticed the children exit the conference room and stand along the railing, watching, but not getting close. Tosh dug deeper, and Owen kept up the scans. Jack's breathing became ragged grunts.

"Safe," Owen choked out.

Jack let out a guttural cry and then started speaking in a raspy voice. "She's so small, but she's a little fighter. Tosh, you're still tired, let me take care of her." Jack's fingers flexed and pressed against the chair, turning white. "Shhhhh… now. Even Myfanwy is getting tired of your cries. You're starting to beat her." Jack started to hum a song that Gwen had never heard before.

"Tosh, go deeper," Gwen stated, glued to her spot in front of Jack. Oh God, he was right. Jack was right. There were memories here.

Tosh started clicking away as Jack let out a whimper. His chest pushed forward, the middle strap looking as if it might cut him in two. Owen kept pace with Tosh, watching the bio-signs and then turned to Gwen.

"He's safe." She could feel Owen judging her.

"The Hub," Jack choked out. "They were all born in the Hub. Something is wrong with what happened. We need to keep them safe. Need to keep us safe. They were born in the Hub." Jack choked a little. "How? Why did this happen? I can remember, oh god, I... I... my baby bump is showing and I can't even leave to go grab some toast. Too many children too quickly." Jack's voice trailed off.

Gwen could barely bring herself to say it. "Go deeper Tosh."

Tosh paused a moment and then took the probe in deeper. She pushed it past the walls of Jack's mind. Owen ran scan after scan in quick succession. Jack cried out incoherent words, his breathing laboured. Suddenly Jack went silent, barely breathing. Gwen's head whipped around to Owen who just shook his head yes.

Without warning, Jack cried out the most primal of screams. "NO! You will not get them!" Jack thrashed in the chair, fighting against the bonds at every cost. "They're taking them! We have to stop them! Give them back! I will hunt you down and kill you with my bare hands if it takes MY ENTIRE LIFETIME!"

Jack's last words were said with such a ferocity Gwen felt them deep inside her. She turned to Tosh. "End it. End it now!"

Tosh quickly brought the probe back through his mind, as Jack began to shudder. Owen continued his watch on the bio-signs and grabbed up a mini scanner from the desk next to him. 

"Done," Tosh replied and hopped over from her computer, taking the probe off Jack's head.

Ianto swooped in, quickly unbuckling the straps that held Jack to the chair. He caught Jack with his shoulders as Jack fell forward into his arms. Ianto pulled him away from the chair, letting his body stretch out, giving his muscles a chance to try and relax. Ianto cradled Jack's head in his lap, as Owen knelt next to them and began scanning Jack with the portable scanner.

"He's unconscious," Ianto said, his voice cracking.

"Physically he's fine," Owen said, sitting back on his heels.

Gwen turned away from what she had let happen to Jack. Her eyes sought out the kids, witnesses to what had just transpired. This affected them as much it did Torchwood. They just stared at her in shock. All of their lives had just changed.


	45. Chapter 45

"Foreign DNA? Could it really be that simple?" Samantha looked up from the electron microscope, shooting a questioning look to Owen.

"Sometimes simple actually works, or would it be ‘Sometimes simple is the basest of ideas, simply put.'" Owen looked up from the alien implant they had taken off Jessica Carter's body.

Samantha stopped what she was doing. Owen had just quoted Jack Jones verbatim from both book number two and book number five. She swallowed hard and tried to play poker with him. 

"Where did you get that from?"

"As if you didn't know." Owen moved to the computer nonchalantly. "Never leave your _stuff_ lying around after you just been caught snooping in someone else's stuff. They might be inclined to do the same."

"You went through my things?"

"Only fair," Owen replied. "So what do you do for him? Proofread or co-writer?"

Samantha smiled. So he hadn't figured it out all the way. Well, well, well. "Actually," she said, savoring the moment. "Jonathon Tiberius is so elusive."

"You got that right. He's never done a book signing, a face-to-face interview or anything." Owen typed in some data.

"That's because Jonathon Tiberius is actually me." She laughed at Owen's shocked look. "When I started writing them, people bought more medical mysteries from men than from women. The women wrote just as well, just, people didn't think they would know all that technical stuff and what-not."

"What got you so interested in medicine?" Owen actually stopped what he was doing and looked at her.

"I've always been interested by it. In high school I was always the first one done in bio lab, aced my anatomy class, and then in college I impressed professors galore." She sighed. "I guess now I know where it came from."

"Listen, once all this is over, if you promise to bring Jonathon Tiberius out of the closet, I'll share something with you."

"Why should I?"

"Because you're brilliant and people should recognize that." Owen threw her a look that goaded her on.

"All right, all right, fine. I'll do it. I was getting tired of hiding behind him anyways." She cocked her head to the side. "So, what do you have to share with me?"

He led her over to one of the morgue drawers. "We generally don't use this one, so I started using it as a personal drawer." He pulled open the drawer, and along with a change of clothes, including three pairs of underwear, and some other personal effects were all six of the Jack Jones novels that were in print.

"I knew it! I knew you had to be a fan!" She stopped short of clapping in glee knowing she had been right all along.

"Yeah, well," Owen said as he kneed the drawer shut. " _Nurse_ Owens? Who is a _woman_?"

"She makes a good sidekick."

"Oh right, the sidekick," Owen muttered as he went back to the computer.

Samantha had not moved, staying by the drawer. There was something she was curious about and Owen seemed to be in a sharing mood. She suddenly felt nervous about the question she was about to ask.

"So, ummm… just how do I have three fathers and who was the mother?" She turned to Owen.

Samantha could actually see his body stiffen at her query, but he did not turn around.

"I don't know," he said.

"How can you not know?"

Owen whirled around, shooting her a glare. "If you haven't noticed, none of us, save for Jack, have any memories of you five beyond the last week. I don't know, but I do know that you have no physical mother." He sighed. "If you had snooped a little more-"

"So sorry, we were interrupted."

"Then you would have seen that," Owen took a breath. "Jack was your surrogate. I bloody well know Ianto and I cannot carry a child to term."

Samantha felt chagrined. She looked down, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jeans. They should not have been snooping, but damn it if they hadn't been so secretive! Still, it was an interesting mystery. Just how could Jack Harkness carry a baby to term? What was so different about him that his body could do that and that he could remember what had been hidden from all of them?

"Sorry," Samantha finally mumbled after a long silence. She ambled back over to the worktable. "So, how are we going to inject foreign DNA into their systems without killing them? And just how are we going to get enough of that DNA into their system?"

"What did Carter's chart say?"

Samantha picked up the chart, peering at it for like the millionth time. "Her body had aborted the baby. And she had begun hemorrhaging really badly before the ambulance had brought her to the hospital."

"After so much time, what does the body do with the fetus?"

"Push it out, get rid of it somehow."

"And?"

"It will eventually reabsorb the base nutrients. Like with multiples. If one child dies in the womb, the other ones will absorb the remaining nutrients in the womb." 

"What did they do next?"

"Started working on her in Emergency."

"Which consisted of?"

"Blood transfusion among other things, but she was hemorrhaging so badly they could barely get the blood into her before it was leaving her body again."

Owen turned to the computer, running several schematics. "Which means she barely had any of her blood in her system! Compatible but still completely foreign to her!"

"Oh my god! That is brilliant!" Samantha started running calculations in her head. "Yeah… but where are you going to get that much blood."

"We need just enough until it detaches."

"Oh shit! It killed her though. When the transplant detached it killed Jessica! It tried to kill Elizabeth, remember?" Samantha grabbed his arm, getting his attention.

"I'm still working on that." Owen gave her a smile. "Improvising! I'm good at that."

Samantha's head hurt trying to keep pace with Owen's thoughts. This was something he was used to, she could tell. Thinking on the fly to save people's lives was probably an everyday occurrence to him. She didn't have the life and death stuff to deal with, but if she could understand that quickness where one thought had barely finished being formed and the next one was ramming into her brain. Her expertise included molding words to keep the cops from arresting you, and schmoozing the public the right way. Sure she was good at medical stuff, but this much, this fast?

"Okay, then," Samantha said, thinking out loud. "The thing will kill them if they are alive. It apparently has some kind of defense mechanism killing off the bio-matter if need be, and it did attack Elizabeth when she tried to pry it from her own head." Samantha shuddered at the thought. She had watched the CCTV footage that was recorded when Gwen tried talking to Elizabeth. It had tried frying Elizabeth as she pulled at it and made her pass out.

"We also need to get an immense amount of other DNA into their systems without overloading them. It's not like they were hemorrhaging or anything, nothing is missing. Wouldn't we need to take DNA out first?" Samantha started rocking back and forth on her heels.

"Before they go boom." He paused a moment and then his head snapped up. "That could work!" Owen bolted past her and up the stairs out of the medical lab. 

Samantha looked at him like he was crazy and then ran after him. Hitting the top of the steps, she spotted him at his desk rummaging through papers. She sauntered over there, trying to catch her breath. 

"Tosh, do you know what happened to the equipment manifest Ianto did a month ago?" Owen picked up pile after pile of papers.

"He gave it to you and you threw it on your desk. That's all I know," Tosh said, her eyes never leaving the computer screens.

"What are you doing?" Owen asked as he dumped a pile of papers onto the top of the garbage can next to his desk.

"The Rift alarm went off, I'm trying to determine if we need to actually go and check it out or if I can just monitor whatever it is until later." Tosh tapped a couple of keys on the keyboard.

"Bollocks," He muttered, grabbing up a pen that tried to roll away and popping it into his mouth. "Ah! Here it is!" He flipped through the print out, grabbing the pen in his hand again. "We do have one. Now, we just need to figure out how to get enough different blood and infuse it into the victims."

"Use me," Jack said weakly.

Samantha spun around, looking for where the voice came from. Jack stood in the doorway to his office, leaning his shoulder against the doorjamb, still looking pale as death. He took a breath and stepped forward into the main area of the Hub.

"No, Jack. No way. You don't know what the plan is," Owen said.

"You want to remove their blood and give them transfusions. You need blood, none more compatible and more different than mine," Jack stated. "I heard what you were discussing and I can take it."

"No," Owen said.

"You can't do that, not for all three of them," Samantha interjected. "And you haven't exactly recovered from what you did a couple of hours ago."

"She's right, Jack," Owen said in turn. "You still look like utter shit."

"Talk about bedside manners," Jack retorted. "What are you going to do then?" He pushed his hands into his trousers and looked at them.

"I'll get blood donations from the hospital," Owen stated.

"What if it doesn't work? What if it needs that extra spark of life?" Jack waltzed over and sat down on Gwen's desk. "What if it needs to be living to keep them alive?"

Samantha looked to Owen. Damn. Jack had good questions. Too good. What if it did need to be living to keep them alive? Just how were they going to keep them alive in the first place?

"Absolutely not. I am not letting you sacrifice yourself for this." Owen turned to his computer pulling up the site for the hospital.

"I won't be Owen. You know I can survive it. Why not let me do this?" Jack intently stared at Owen who seemed to be ignoring him.

"How can you survive giving up that much blood, it'll kill you," Samantha said. "The only way would be if you could come back from the dead." She let out a derisive laugh.

Tosh quickly turned her head, exchanging a look with Owen. "Owen," she intoned.

"Why should I help him with his death wish?" Owen said as he nearly punched the buttons on his keyboard.

"It wouldn't exactly be a _death_ wish," Jack said.

Owen swiveled in his chair to look directly at Jack. "Why do you want to do this so fucking badly?"

"I owe it to them," Jack said.

"How could you owe it to us?" Samantha crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back against Owen's desk.

"I let them be taken." Jack started, clearing his throat. "It was all my fault. The Rift alarm had gone off, but it seemed routine enough. I sent the four of you after what had come through the Rift, and I stayed behind with the five children. Someone had to."

"The intruder alarm for the Hub went off. I disabled it and I went to check on what set it off, but not before I got the children into the conference room and locked it down. I left them alone. The intruders somehow knew the security code. I could suddenly hear them cry as clear as day, and ran back to find the conference room door wide open and they were gone."

Jack wet his lips. "I called for help on the headsets, but you were too far away. You guys couldn't get back here in time. I saw these creatures with yellow skin and long faces in dark cloaks carrying the children. I chased after them. They were heading for the surface, with me on their heels, when one of them turned around. Their eyes were as dark as night. I tackled the one that had turned when another fired a phaser at me. Then another phaser blast hit me and I fell to the ground. Before I blacked out I swore I would hunt them down, and make them pay. I knew I had to find the children again."

"We heard that," Tosh said quietly from her station.

Jack stood up and walked over to Samantha, putting a hand on her shoulder. His hand felt so warm and she felt a soothing sensation come over her. "You are part of our past. If you were still to come, I would not be able to remember you."

"But how? How can we be? For one thing, we're older than you," Samantha replied.

"Time differential, a time shift, a phase… There's always something," Tosh declared.

"It's evident in your lymphocytes. There's a mutation, no matter how slight, when someone is exposed to time travel of any kind." Owen faced Samantha and Jack.

"This is all real then, isn't it," Samantha asked.

"Yes. Yes it is," Owen answered.

"Right, what's going on here," Ianto asked as he came up from archives. He put down the stack of folders he had been carrying on an empty desk by the doorway.

Owen looked from Ianto to Jack. "It would appear that Jack just volunteered to give me all the blood I need to save the victims downstairs," Owen said as he stood up. "Ianto, you wouldn't happen to know exactly where we keep the, I believe the, um, Yanks call it a ‘cell saver'?"

"You cannot be serious," Ianto replied, frowning.

"Believe me, I am," Jack said.

Samantha suddenly found him stroking her hair behind her right ear. She didn't pull away. It felt nice, and it felt right. For a moment she contemplated trusting the insane idea and letting it happen.


	46. Chapter 46

Ianto watched Jack while he neatly folded the older man's shirt and trousers. Neither man had said a word to each other for the last five minutes. He placed Jack's braces and watch on top of the pile. Jack took off his vortex manipulator and tucked it away in his upper desk drawer, next to his Webley. He looked so un-Jack like in white scrubs. In fact he reminded Ianto of how he had looked lying in the morgue just after the whole battle with Abaddon. 

Ianto shuddered at the memory as he put the pile of clothing neatly on the corner of Jack's desk. He looked up, feeling like someone was staring at him. His eyes met Jack's. Jack smiled at him, but the smile did not reach his eyes. Ianto strode around the desk, and took Jack by the arms. Jack brought his arms up and they held each other.

"You don't have to do this," Ianto said.

"Who else can?" Jack pulled Ianto in tight to him. "They are our children, Torchwood's children. I have to do this."

"What about the other two? Duncan and Lewis?"

"Two innocent people, caught in the middle of something they know nothing about." Jack's arms moved up Ianto's back. He could feel the warmth from them through his jacket and shirt. "Don't lie to me. You would do it, if you could, if that meant saving the lives of innocent victims. If dying meant I could bring all 36 people back in one piece, I would do it."

"I would miss you," Ianto said. "But, I would understand."

Ianto's hands trailed up Jack's arms to his shoulders. They then grabbed him gently around the neck, pulling him in tight. His mouth found Jack's and he gave him a deep kiss, relishing in the taste and feel of him. With all his might, he tried to send Jack some of his power in that kiss, and he sent so many thoughts of love. Finally, Ianto pulled back from the kiss, but did not let Jack go.

This time, Jack's smile was evident on his entire face. "But think about it! I rather enjoy knowing that somehow you and I have a child."

"With Owen," Ianto chimed in. "Just how did that happen?"

"Don't know, can't remember that part, but I bet it was fun!"

Ianto rolled his eyes and pulled away from Jack, only holding his hand. "We should go. Owen should be ready." 

Ianto lead Jack around his desk and they exited the office. Tosh sat at her workstation, Jillian sitting next to her. Tosh looked down and saw them holding hands and smiled.

"We thought we would monitor the Rift activity while everyone else is busy," Tosh said. "Plus, it's already gonna be crowded in there."

"Do not go anywhere alone," Jack replied.

"I won't." Tosh gave them an encouraging smile and then turned back to the computers.

Walking into autopsy, they passed Gwen at the top of the stairs. She turned to Jack and quickly engulfed him in a hug. She held tight to him for several long seconds and then let him go. Ianto let go of Jack's hand as Jack walked down into autopsy, Ianto behind him.

"So wait a minute, exactly what is this thing going to do?" Lynnae pointed at the apparatus Owen had Ianto drag upstairs an hour ago.

"In layman's terms, it's called a cell-saver," Samantha stated.

"It doesn't look like there's anything layman about it," Lynnae said.

"It will pull the blood out of them. It normally cleans and recycles the patients own blood," Samantha filled in. "Hospitals normally use it when blood is hard to come by or if a person's immunity is low and they cannot chance any complications from other blood being added to the patient."

"This one though, Owen has modified it to pull blood from the victim, storing it rather than cleaning it and putting it back into the body. It will then remove some blood from Jack and filter that back into the victim. The idea is that once the implant detaches and it is removed, we can eliminate Jack's blood from their body and reintroduce their own blood."

"This kind of technobabble and talk of blood hurts my head," Lynnae muttered.

"Sometimes a little technobabble is good for the soul," Jack stated.

"But it killed the other woman," David interjected.

"We're going to keep them frozen," Owen said.

"Just how is that fucking going to work?"

"We'll warm up the body enough to facilitate blood flow and enough of a bio signature that the implant will react to it. Once the implant is completely removed and we have destroyed it, we can unfreeze them." Owen prepped a syringe full of clear liquid. "All right Jack, I have a nice little cocktail for you."

Jack climbed up onto the second stretcher Ianto had also dragged up from storage. They had never really needed a second stretcher due to the fact that most of the time this part of the Hub was mainly used for autopsies plus research and not actual medical care, but that seemed to be changing lately. Jack reclined on the basic sheet they had thrown over the cold metal. 

Jack closed his hands over his stomach and looked at Owen. "What's that going to do?" 

"Just a something special I concocted. It'll make your body think it's being attacked and will increase blood flow," Owen stated as he found the carotid artery on Jack's neck. "It also has a blood thinner so your blood won't clot."

"Are you trying to purposefully make him bleed out," David butted in.

"If we slashed his arms and gutted his chest then yes." Owen put the end of the injector on Jack's neck and pulled the trigger. "Considering the blood will be exiting his body from a small puncture that we can close off, he should be fine." 

"I have a bad feeling about this," David mumbled.

"Right! If you are not on one of these stretchers or Samantha–"

Ianto shot Owen a determined look. He was not leaving Jack alone, and he had done his fair share of helping out when it came to the medical side of things.

"Okay," Owen said as he sighed. "Samantha, people on stretchers and _Teaboys_ are the only ones down here." He pointed up by Gwen. "Otherwise, get your arses up there."

David and Lynnae grumbled as they trudged up the stairs and took up spots next to Gwen, hanging on the railing. Ianto watched as Owen walked over to the morgue drawer on the far side of the autopsy bay and pulled it open. Inside was one of the cryogenics coffers. Owen disengaged the system and the top of the sarcophagus opened.

Without being asked, Ianto strode over next to Owen and the two men removed the first victim from the box onto the open stretcher. Before him lay Duncan McAllister, a father of three and probably someone who ever thought he would be cryogenically frozen to keep an alien entity from making him murder others.

While Owen and Samantha prepped the body for the procedure, Ianto ambled back to Jack's side. He stood next to the older man, and then placed a hand over Jack's folded hands. 

"You can still back out of this," Ianto quietly said.

"I know," Jack replied.

"But you won't," Ianto stated. He knew Jack would not back out. Once he made a decision he followed it through, despite what it would do to him physically or mentally. Ianto found himself silently praying that this worked. He dared not imagine the anguish Jack and Owen would put themselves through if it did not work.

Owen came upon them, two electrodes in hand and picked up Jack's shirt, gently slapping them down on his chest.

"Next time you want to play, Owen, just ask," Jack said. "Unless you like it rough and want to just grab?"

Owen pretended not to hear Jack. Ianto noticed him move over by the computer. He watched as Owen typed in a couple of commands and then two bio scans appeared on the monitor. One did not fluctuate, but the other, Jack's, kept note of heart rate, body temperature, any and everything.

"Okay, here we go," Owen said coming up on the other side of Jack. He held an IV in one hand and held out the other hand.

Jack took a deep breath and then disentangled his left hand from Ianto's and held it out. Owen took hold and inserted the IV into his arm, taping it down and putting a clamp on the tubing, holding Jack's blood at bay.

Ianto found himself staring at the red liquid suspended in the IV tubing. Something as simple looking as that meant so much life to so many people, some of them in this room. It also reminded Ianto how easily that life source could be spilled.

A low hum could be heard as Owen started up the machine. An internal centrifuge could be seen spinning and suddenly a wave of red covered the clear plastic casing. Ianto took notice as it then dripped into a collection bag under the machine. It continued to hum as the last bit of blood dropped down. Owen quickly closed off the bag and moved to Jack, releasing the clamp on the tubing.

Jack let out a small gasp as Ianto watched the blood flow through the tube and into the machine. He followed its progress into Duncan. Owen ran over to the other stretcher, crouching down by Duncan's head with a penlight shining on the implant.

"How long has it been pulsing?" Owen looked at Samantha.

"Five and a half minutes," she stated consulting her mobile. Ianto could see a stopwatch application on the iPhone.

Owen's eyes glanced over at the machine as it pulled blood out of Jack. His eyes flicked to Jack and then he stared back at the implant. Ianto turned back to Jack, taking his free hand and grasping Jack’s hand tightly. His other hand caressed Jack's shoulder as Jack closed his eyes.

Ianto looked at the monitor and saw Jack's heart rate dropping substantially. He leaned over Jack. "Jack," he said softly. "Jack, look at me. Stay with me."

Jack's eyes partially opened. He already looked tired. He nodded his head yes.

"Tell me about the children Jack. Talk to me. Tell me what you remember." Ianto hoped if he could keep Jack talking the man would not pass out.

"You want to know Ianto?" A small smile curled Jack's lips.

"Of course. I want to remember, too. Tell me." Ianto's thumb rubbed the outside of Jack's hand as he held on tight.

"Well," Jack started out slowly. "They had different names, but I know who was who."

"Just use their current names for now," Ianto prodded.

Jack shook his head yes. "Lynnae had such a set of lungs on her. She would always cry. But she didn't cry when she was born." Jack swallowed. "Something happened to Tosh. She nearly didn't make it. That's why Gwen carried Jillian. It was too soon for poor Tosh."

"It's okay, we understand," Ianto said. "Go on."

"One night I convinced Tosh to let me take care of her while she got to sleep the whole night downstairs. I walked around the entire Hub with her screaming in my ear. Even Myfanwy left." Jack closed his eyes and smiled, but he continued to talk. "Finally I decided some fresh air couldn't hurt so I put my coat on and tucked her into my arms, the coat wrapped around her. Suddenly she stopped crying. She didn't cry if I tucked her inside the coat and by my heart."

"It's a nice coat," Ianto said.

Jack let out a small chuckle. "Although Lynnae did start to get a little fussy when the baby bump started taking up her space. Finally I figured out a way to lay there with the coat buttoned up and Lynnae lying on my chest between my heartbeat and Samantha."

Ianto hazarded a look at Samantha and found her and Lynnae just staring at each other. Probably feeling his gaze, Samantha slowly turned her head back to Ianto, a look of amazement in her eyes.

"Yes!" 

Owen's exclamation made Samantha's head snap back towards him. Jack's eyes fluttered open as he slightly turned his head. Ianto looked, too, as Owen stood up and grabbed a set of forceps from a nearby tray.

"Gwen, doll, do you have that handy dandy box to destroy things with?"

"Right here, Owen," Gwen said as she started down the steps nearest him with a big lead lined box.

Ianto recognized the box. It had fallen through the Rift during the time that Jack had been away with his Doctor. It had taken Tosh two days to get it open, but once she had, it revealed much more than any of them had expected. Inside the heavy-duty box was the essence of a black hole. Whatever was put into the box was gone. Not even a tracer program created by Tosh survived going into that box.

"What's that," Jack asked, struggling to follow Gwen's movements.

"Something quite interesting. Like a lot of other things around here." Ianto suddenly felt Jack's hand go limp. He turned to the monitor and saw Jack's heart rate drop rapidly. He also started to feel cooler to the touch. "Owen!"

Owen looked up from behind Duncan's back as Samantha partially held the body up. His eyes darted to the monitor and he ducked back behind the body, two forceps in hand. Ianto couldn't quite see what Owen was doing, so instead he concentrated on Jack. He moved his hand from Jack's shoulder to his head. Running his fingers through Jack's hair, he held his hand even tighter, trying to keep a connection to him.

Ianto heard the box slam shut but he didn't even look it. Owen came flying over, shutting the clamp on the tube, stopping the blood flow. He scanned the monitor and looked back at Ianto. On the monitor Jack's heart skipped a rhythm and then Ianto felt a shudder pass through him. With great ferocity Jack's hand suddenly grasped his again. 

Ianto dared to breathe again. Despite the fact that he knew Jack could come back, he still often wondered if it would be the last time. He didn't exactly know how this immortality thing worked. Maybe all he got was so many reboots and when he used up his last one, then the system wouldn't work anymore.

He observed in quiet contemplation as Owen reversed the machine, allowing Duncan's blood to go back into his body. There was something macabre about watching Jack's blood spill out of the machine and down the white drain in the floor. He almost couldn't tear his eyes away, until Jack spoke to him.

"Did it work?" Jack wondered, his eyes opening as he peered around him.

"The implant detached and has been removed. Now we wait," Ianto said. He leaned down and planted a soft kiss on Jack's forehead.


	47. Chapter 47

David paced the super small path between the settee and the entrance to the medical bay. They were working on pulling Elizabeth out of some induced coma Owen had come up with to protect the patients until he could bring them around fully.

He had stood watch as they had removed the implants from Duncan, Lewis and then Elizabeth. David was more than fine with them taking care of Elizabeth last in case Owen had fucked something up. Then they had put the victims into these induced comas and slowly brought them around. 

Duncan and Lewis were sitting in the hospital right now, being reunited with their families. Owen had arranged for medical transport from the Plass. David had to admit, it was pretty cool how much pull Torchwood had. If this whole being their kids thing was true, it scared him to comprehend just what could take them away.

If it was true? Fuck them, it had to be. There was no way Jack could make up stories like that while under that much pain from blood loss. David understood how the loss of blood could make you feel. It had been months since Allie had died, and grief counseling worked most days, but some days… Some days all he needed was to get a whiff of her perfume on someone else in an elevator and he wanted to tailspin out of control.

One day he did. He had a meeting that morning and something at the client's reminded him so vividly of Allie. David had gone home, sitting there for hours, doing nothing but looking at old pictures and drinking. He finished off one bottle of rum and was contemplating the next when the idea floated into his head again. He had entertained the thought several times before.

Taking the pocket-knife his Dad had given him as a gift on his 16th birthday, David sat on the bathroom counter summoning up his courage. He then held his arm out over the sink and sliced along the arm, down the middle. David actually put the knife down on the side and watched with fascination as his blood seeped out the cut, ran down his arm and splattered the sink, pooling and then disappearing down the drain.

He was starting to feel woozy when his phone rang. It was the girls looking to take him out to dinner. He couldn't remember exactly what he had mumbled to Samantha to get out of going, but he could remember sitting there realizing how much they would kill him. He slowly realized, with them he still had a life. He knew then how much he would protect them if it took his fortune or his life.

David grabbed a towel and wrapped his arm up. He still wasn't sure how he was able to drive himself to the hospital and not succeed in killing himself or anyone else. He had never told the girls, any of them. He had come close to telling Elizabeth once, but he chickened out. He lied and told them he was in a drunken stupor for two days and they didn't press the matter. 

He couldn't pace anymore. David sat down on the edge of the balcony that circled the medical bay, his head and arms propped between the railings. He watched Owen go through the motions of preparing Elizabeth to come out of the coma. David was glad Samantha was helping him. She was good at the mothering thing, and the patching people up thing. Plus, then one of them was with Elizabeth.

His mind wandered to the memories Jack had talked about during the procedure. At first he couldn't figure out why Ianto kept him talking. All David wanted was Jack to shut the fuck up. It was so many things to deal with at once. But now… now he realized that those memories were real. He also looked over the tests, once he sweet-talked Tosh into giving them access to them. It was real, so real, but it made sense.

Never in his life had he met four people he instantly connected with. When he met Lynnae and Samantha in college, there was an undeniable bond. It had started out as _professional_ curiosity. Lynnae had set up her and Samantha's computers with a private network, so they could chat during class, even in separate classrooms. He had hacked into their debate about the merits of hunting down ghosts versus tracking aliens. In his role as the assistant professor for the computer class Lynnae was taking, he gave the girls a warning from his computer: "Shut the fuck up and pay attention! I know which one you are." Needless to say two wonderful friendships survived their initial conversation.

Elizabeth always joked that maybe the five of them had known each other in a past life. He did not want to admit to her that she had been right. Yet, he would do anything to have her gloating and wailing on him again.

David looked down as Owen injected her with some kind of wake-up drug and felt for a pulse. Owen then readjusted his fingers and felt again. David sat up straight.

"Come on, baby," Owen said as he looked to the monitor. It flatlined.

David scrambled to his feet as Owen grabbed the shock paddles from behind him. His heart leaped into his throat. No. They did not get this far for her to give up now. He was not going to accept that. 

For the first time in years he prayed, "Padre nuestro que estás en los cielos, santificado sea tu Nombre," he muttered under his breath, barely audible.

"Charging to 200. Clear," Owen said as he hovered the paddles over Elizabeth's chest. He pressed them down and her body jerked, but still it registered flatline. "Damn," Owen said as he adjusted the setting. "Charging to 360. Clear," Owen said as he pressed the paddles to Elizabeth's chest, her body jerking again.

Elizabeth gasped, reaching out for anything. Samantha grabbed her arm and held her tight. Elizabeth struggled for breath while Samantha tried to soothe her. David couldn't quite hear what she was saying but it seemed to work as Elizabeth calmed down and took big gulping breaths of air.

His hands hung limp at his sides, as his mind tried to tell his body that everything would be okay. Suddenly he felt someone grasp each hand. He looked side-to-side and saw Lynnae gripping one of his hands while Jillian held tight to the other. Behind Lynnae a half-dressed Jack in only trousers and t-shirt came up, putting his hands on her shoulders. Lynnae did not pull away. Halfway down the stairs stood Gwen, Ianto behind her. Last David had seen, Gwen was slumped against the wall, sitting on the floor of the balcony that surrounded the medical bay.

"Guys? What happened? Where am I?" Elizabeth croaked out.

Never meaning to let it happen, a couple of tears fell down David's cheeks as Samantha pulled Elizabeth into a tight hug. Elizabeth would be okay. He wouldn't lose anyone else in his life yet. That he could live with. His eyes met Samantha's and he could feel a smile start on his face as he wiped the tears away.


	48. Chapter 48

Tosh kicked off her shoes, tucking them under her desk. For as much time as she spent down in Torchwood, she really should invest in some cute bunny slippers or something. She stretched, rolling the kinks out of her neck, trying to not make too much noise. Glancing over at the settee she smiled, seeing David and Elizabeth passed out.

Jack had offered his quarters, but none of them wanted Elizabeth to be that far away from them, so they had made do with the settee. David had fallen asleep sitting up, his head lolled back, mouth slightly agape. Elizabeth's head was in his lap and she was stretched out, one of Jack's blankets draped over her. Tosh smiled as she watched one of David's hands idly move over and take Elizabeth's hand in his, yet they both still slept.

She turned back to her computer, partially wishing that could be her and Owen. Although, he seemed to be warming up to her lately; they had been through a lot together in the last year. Owen was the only one to come and talk with her, trying to comfort her, after the whole ordeal of sending Tommy back through time to his death.

Her computer beeped and she looked up at the monitor. Her eyes grew wide as she took in the information. She had finally beaten it. That strange communications relay she had discovered in the atmosphere above her had finally cracked. For days, every time she got close or got a glimpse of what it could be, it jumbled up again.

Tosh slid her glasses up her nose as she typed away, pulling up file after file. Once they had downloaded to the computer she began opening them. They appeared to be in a different language. She started running a translation program. Whatever it was, it was similar enough to at least one alien language she had already put into the database.

She stopped typing as the one file finished translating. It was research. It looked like medical research, but it was on them. Included was birth dates for five children. She quickly perused the dates. The first one was for dark-haired human male and occurred about nine months after they had finally buried Suzie. About five months after that was a date for a blonde human female. Another seven months and there was a date for a dark-haired human female. Four months later was a red-headed human female. And then six months later came a black-haired human female.

It was the children. It was birth records for the children, but the dates didn't stop for almost another two years to come. They were part of their past and their future? Her mind automatically started to figure out the possibilities of such a thing. Before one thought finished formulating, another one was sprinting through her head. 

Another file finished decrypting. She hurriedly opened that one, scanning it. It read like a research control form, discussing how an airborne agent had been released into the Hub's air system prompting procreation. It had been natural impregnation, although that still did not explain why Gwen and Jack were surrogates.

There was an attachment to the report and Tosh opened it. Reading quickly it suddenly made sense in her mind. The airborne viral agent induced elevated hormones and also made the body produce extra eggs and sperm, promoting a fertile womb. Owen had surgically moved Jillian to Gwen when Tosh's body had tried to abort the foetus. But Jack? Tosh quickly suppressed the groan as she read how it had been Owen and Ianto and then somehow Jack had waltzed into the situation. Her mind wanted to shut down at the mental image of all three men going at it together.

Tosh shook her head, trying to shake the image free. File after file opened up. It was research. The reason there were children at all was because of some kind of sick research by some alien entity. The only thing that consoled Tosh about being used like that was the fact that she and Owen had been the first ones to have a child. Perhaps that had expounded on the natural feelings between both of them.

She found case notes written by Owen and Jack. Tosh even found an ongoing journal that seemed to have been written by her. They knew something was wrong. Something did not click with all the sudden pregnancies in Torchwood, and then Owen ran DNA analyses on the foetus' and something definitely did not seem right. There was a note about their theories. A comment by Owen about how much of a prick Rhys was for leaving a pregnant Gwen alone for two weeks when he found out it wasn't his. Notes by Jack about how the team, no the family, would persevere.

The next file she opened stopped Tosh in her tracks. She stared at it, even forgetting to breathe for a moment. It was the alien's notes. It explained why they could not remember. The aliens had disrupted time. Apparently something got them scared and they triggered, well what did they trigger? Tosh reread the file again, trying to formulate a hypothesis of what this exactly was. The nearest thing she could think of was as if they had popped a bubble of time, making it null and void. They could not remember their own children because they had never had them.

Gwen and Ianto had taken the girls back to the flat to get some of their things, but Owen and Jack were still here. She needed to find Jack. He was supposed to be resting in his quarters, doctor's orders, but Tosh knew he was prowling around his office. She slowly backed away from the computer, still reading the files until she was halfway to the office, then she turned and ran straight into Jack.

"Whoa! Toshiko, what's wrong?" Jack stumbled and then grabbed her, holding her steady.

"I know what happened. I know why we can't remember." She tried to breathe, her mind whirling. "I found the missing pieces to the children's past and to our future."

"Where? What? How did you do this?"

She gripped the lapel of his blue shirt, holding him, rooting herself in the here and now. "It was an experiment; research by some other alien race. They were studying humans and used us as a lab experiment. I found their research. I have it on the computer."

The Rift alarm suddenly went off. Tosh and Jack looked at each other and then she raced out of his office, sprinting towards her desk. Jack followed closely behind, sliding the holster of his gun onto his belt. Tosh pulled up a map of Cardiff. A spot was pinpointed in the Atlantic Wharf area.

"What's wrong?" David asked from the settee. He did not move, but kept a hand on Elizabeth who barely stirred.

"All right, what's happening?" Owen said, running up from autopsy.

"Rift surge. There's a massive energy signature at the address of the flat!" Tosh hurried at pulling up CCTV footage.

She could hear Jack behind her trying to raise Ianto or Gwen on the comms but no one answered. She opened the feed for the interior of the flat, but all she got was static. Looking at the current CCTV feed, nothing outside the flat looked out of the ordinary. 

"They've taken out the cameras inside," Tosh said.

"I'm not getting an answer from anyone," Jack stated.

"Could they have left already?" Owen queried, standing behind Tosh. He put his hand on her back and it helped calm her down.

"The SUV is still at the location and no one is in it." She tried pulling up the sensors in the SUV, hoping that since it was closer to the site it could give her a better reading.

She felt Owen's hand leave her back and she hazarded a glance, seeing him slip on his coat. Jack already his own coat on and his vortex manipulator open. She typed away, trying to get around whatever the interference was. All of a sudden she found herself staring at the interior feed for the flat.

"No!"

Jack and Owen crowded around her, but one glance at the footage had Jack racing for the cog door, Owen hot on his heels. 

"Send me all the information you have, Tosh," Jack said.

She was finally able to tear her eyes away from the image of a bloody Gwen and Ianto, sprawled on the floor of the flat. She couldn't tell if they were still alive because neither of them stirred. She hoped that whatever had done that to them was in worse shape then them, otherwise they would have her to answer to.

"You have it, Jack." She scanned the other footage quickly. "Jack!"

He stopped one brief moment. "What is it?"

"I don't see the girls. They're gone."

"What?" David bolted up, gently moving Elizabeth's head off his lap despite the speed in which he moved.

Jack and Owen never said a word, just hit the door running, exiting before it even stopped rolling open. Tosh's head snapped up as she heard a bullet being fired in the corridor outside the door. Then she heard several gunshots and sounds almost like lasers. Owen nearly flew back through the door.

"Lockdown!" Owen said stopping and holding position just inside the Hub, gun at the ready, aimed at the open door.

Without hesitation she hit the button to initiate lockdown of the base. They would be stuck for several hours, but there was something in Owen's voice that scared her. She tried to pull up the footage from the hallway but all she got was static again. Tosh could hear David behind her trying to wake up Elizabeth.

It was not soon enough. Several creatures in long dark robes entered through the door. One of them held up a mechanical device that stopped the lockdown. Tosh looked at her screen in shock, and then grabbed her own gun from her open purse next to the desk. Three of the creatures turned towards her and she could see they had long yellow faces and eyes the color of midnight. Her heart stopped beating. It was the same creatures Jack had described.

They both fired on the group. There were seven of them, and she knew she hit three of them. Two clutched at parts of their body where she had hit them and the other one fell dead. All of a sudden she felt hazy and then let out a cry as one was suddenly next to her. It knocked the gun from her hand and grabbing her by the neck, slamming her head down onto the desk. 

She crumpled over the desk, cradling her head. Immense pain blossomed out across her body. She could see what was going on around her, but could hardly move. David grabbed the one who had been trying to get Elizabeth and started wrestling it. Blow upon blow rained down on his body but he did not let go. Suddenly a phaser blast hit him in the gut, fired from where Tosh could not tell. David fell to the ground not moving or breathing.

Tosh heard Owen screaming, but she couldn't help him. She felt another blow to her body and laid there, the pain trying to overwhelm her. How had they snuck up on her? Then it dawned on her, they could manipulate time, maybe they had already manipulated it enough to get what they wanted.

She looked on in horror as one of the creatures picked up a groggy Elizabeth and headed out the side door. All she could do was whimper, trying to protest. Then another creature picked up the still form of David and walked out with him. Tosh wanted to do something, had to do something. With strength from where she didn't know she pushed herself up to her knees. She tried reaching up for the computer, and was able to hit a couple of buttons, including emergency protocol for a breach of safety that went to Torchwood 2.

Pain spread across her back as one of the creatures beat her away. She fell forward, her head bouncing off the metal floor. The creature fell next to her, his dark eyes staring into hers. He was dead. She looked over and saw Owen crawling towards her.

"Tosh, I need you to stay with me," Owen said. 

She could hear a gun being cocked and fired as one of the creatures splashed into the pool of water. Owen pulled himself over to her and put his hand on her head and pulled it back towards him. She saw the blood on his fingers but could not even shudder. She knew it was hers, but that did not chill her. Knowing that the children were gone, and the team might not survive save for Jack; that chilled her.

Tosh could feel herself drifting towards unconsciousness. She tried to fight it, but her body simply refused. In the back of her mind she could hear Jack's screams.


	49. Chapter 49

The young looking man in the brown pinstriped suit strode through the alien corridors as though he belonged there. Certain people would have thought he did belong there once upon a time for the simple fact that he was alien, too.

All around him he heard the klaxons of an intruder alarm but that did not bother him. Why should it? He was the intruder. Finding the doors to the bridge he pulled out a silver device from his pocket and aimed it at the main door. The bulbous end glowed a brilliant blue and the doors whooshed open. He deposited the device back into an interior pocket of his coat.

"Intruder, halt!" 

He found himself facing the barrel of a phase pistol. He looked up at the yellow face of the alien that held it on him. Knocking the phaser away he continued forward onto the bridge.

"Put that away." He looked around at the aliens, all wearing the same dark robes. Yet, if one looked close enough they would see a difference in the embroidery that represented which section of the sciences each one was a researcher in. "Where is your captain, your _taroush_?"

One of the aliens stepped forward. "You know our language, stranger. How is that possible?"

"Yeah, well, you're Galatans aren't you? Not that hard of a language to pick up over time." He pushed his coat away and stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his trousers. "You've been doing experiments on Earth?"

"We are scientists, that is what we do," the creature stated.

"Well, well, well…" The man ran a hand through his hair and made a face. "See, I'm all for science and learning things, but what you are doing here is wrong." The man's voice grew hard. "So wrong in fact, that it goes against Article 92 of the Shadow Proclamation. No species shall conduct unwarranted experiments on another species without making themselves known to said species."

The man walked around the head creature and then hopped up onto an empty section of console. "You see, you've been doing experiments on humans hiding inside a cloaked spaceship. Those humans down there have no clue you are here and that you have been modifying their lives. That would be against Article 92."

"How else are we to learn other than to observe how a species reacts when put into certain situations?" The main creature did not move from his spot.

"You can just observe. But altering the lives of a species without their consent? That is very, very, very wrong."

"We can reverse it, we can control a certain amount of time in the past and in the future of where we are now." If Galatans could look smug, this taroush certainly did.

"That's another thing," the man said as he hopped down from the console and strode up to the taroush, face-to-face with him. "I have a real hard time with people who play around with changing time. Do you realize how much damage your little bit of meddling does to the time vortex?"

"And how would you know about things like that?"

The man got a very serious look on his face. "Because, I'm a Timelord. I'm the Doctor. And you need to leave this ship right now."

The creature stepped back from the Doctor. "Why do we need to leave the ship?"

"Now, now, now, you see," the Doctor said, "this ship is now attached to Earth time for about the next fifty Earth years due to your experiments. If it leaves orbit it could alter things in ways even I cannot imagine, and, usually I'm brilliant when it comes to that." The Doctor paused, looking at each of the so-called scientists. He then turned back to the taroush. "You have escape pods. You will use them. Otherwise, there is a troop ship already headed this way on behalf of the Shadow Proclamation. You can stay and deal with them instead if you wish."

The Galatans hesitated a moment and then one by one they left the bridge as a ship-wide announcement was made for evacuation. The taroush was the last one to leave, but before he could go, the Doctor stopped him.

"I saw a transport from the surface as I entered your ship. There were human signatures in that transport. Where are they?"

"We already deposited them."

"All four of them?" The Doctor turned on the Galatan. "Deposited them where?"

"All _five_ of them. We fixed our mistake, as you would call it. We pulled the five experimental children out of this point in time and dropped them off in different points in the future, the last one deposited about 45 years to come. We then popped the time bubble reverting it back so the subjects cannot remember. They are all fine, we do not kill our test subjects." The Galatan put his hood up, looking almost regal. "We do have morals, Doctor, just maybe not the same as a Timelord." The Galatan lowered his head and exited the bridge.

The Doctor ambled over to a small view screen wondering how it was possible a species of scientists could go so far in altering a species. He guessed to some races it was okay as long as it was done in the name of science. He had seen enough of that attitude when he was stuck on Earth in the 20th Century. He looked down at the view screen wondering just who they had targeted for their experiments.

Seeing the feed in front of him, his hearts sank. He recognized Gwen and Ianto from their help against the Dalek invasion. And of course he recognized Jack. He looked at the other two and wondered. It was then he looked down at the chronometer and realized just who the very loud man and the quiet Asian woman could be: Toshiko and Owen. Jack had told him about them when they had a chance to talk after the whole ordeal with The Master.

Both his hearts saddened. The Doctor knew that Jack regarded this group of people as the closest thing to family he could have. He also recalled one lonely night on the TARDIS that Jack had confided in him how much he would love to have a child but how he figured that could never happen with the life he led, and that had only entailed being a conman at the time.

The Doctor put his hand over the screen, wishing he had been sooner. If only he had known what the Galatans were doing, but how could he with how much they played around with time. 

"I am so sorry, Jack."

He checked over the Galatans' recent case notes and saw the imminent arrival of the Timorox. The Doctor let out a sigh and headed back to the cargo hold where he had left the TARDIS. He would intervene on their part. It was the least he could do for Torchwood. He sighed. He wasn't doing it for Torchwood per se, but he would do it for the innocent lives that could be saved, and for Jack.


	50. Chapter 50

Jack had enough of Owen and Ianto's bickering. They could act like little children sometimes.

"That is enough." Jack's voice seemed to echo in the cavernous office. "You two need to stop this right now or I am bringing out the measuring tape and settling it once and for all." Jack pointed at both Owen and Ianto.

"Measuring tape? What for?" Gwen looked from man to man and then the realisation suddenly hit her. Her mouth formed an "oh" and she sat down at her workstation.

"That won't be necessary," Ianto answered primly.

"Yeah, afraid you'll lose," Owen sniped.

"My God! You can be such children sometimes!" Tosh slapped the pile of notes she was holding in her hands onto the desk of her workstation. She then turned away from them, trying to concentrate on her own work.

She had hit the spot. They could be such overgrown children. Overgrown children who knew just how to nibble the back of your ear that it–

"I'll be upstairs," Ianto said.

At the same time Owen stated, "I'll be in autopsy."

Jack watched as Owen tried to goad Ianto on with one of his smarmy looks. Before he could say anything both men turned at once and headed off to their respective corners to probably prepare for round two. It was going to be a long week with very little alone time for him and Ianto, Jack was sure of that. 

Jack felt a bit queasy in the stomach. He gingerly touched it as it cramped a little and then passed. That was odd, he never really got sick out of the blue like that, unless Owen had poisoned him. He decided he needed some coffee and he didn't care if Ianto wanted to yell at him. He headed for the little kitchenette still smelling the pot Ianto had freshly brewed.

He stopped mid-stride as he saw Tosh stiffen, staring at the computer. She took a deep breath and then went to town, clicking away at her computer. He could see her pulling up multiple CCTV camera feeds from around the Hub.

"Tosh, sweetie, what's wrong," Gwen asked as she manoeuvred around her desk and stood next to Tosh.

Tosh had put her glasses on and was peering intently at the computer screens surrounding her. She was muttering a very improper Japanese swear word under her breath. It made Jack smile wondering what she would think if she knew he understood her.

"Come on girl, tell us what it is," Owen said.

"It's gone, how can it be gone?" Her fingers flew over the keyboard, every stroke deliberate. She was looking for something, something that should not be missing from the tone in her voice.

"Just what exactly is gone?" Ianto took up position on the other side of Tosh, opposite Gwen.

"The Weevil, the one we brought in last night. It's gone from its cell."

Jack stood there suddenly very intrigued. For anything to escape from Torchwood's cells was nearly impossible. He dashed to his office and grabbed his Webley, sliding the holster onto his belt.

"But that's impossible. Weevils can't just leave, can they?" Gwen's face grimaced in thought. "If it's not in its cell, then where is it?"

"In Jack's office? Maybe he wanted to have a little fun," Owen suggested sarcastically.

Jack finished tightening his belt and regarded Owen, giving him a smirk. "Nah. Weevils aren't my cup of tea. Too many claws getting in the way, and they have a habit of scratching you in places you didn't know you had." 

He shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers, formulating an idea. "Is it still in the Hub or did it make it outside?" Jack continued.

"I don't know. I can't find it on the footage. It's moving really quickly and just out of view of some of the cameras." Tosh pushed her glasses up her nose and let out a very frustrated sigh.

"You're telling me the Weevils are getting smarter? Just bloody great!" Owen threw his hands up in the air.

"All right, split up. We'll make our way outside. Gwen and I will take the lift, Owen and Ianto, you make your way out through the tourist office. Tosh, you stay down here monitoring CCTV and trying to find any signs of the Weevil," Jack said. "And find out how it got out of the cells in the first place." That really bothered him.

Jack grabbed his long, grey coat as Ianto held it out to him. He watched as the team geared up, Owen still carting around a chip on his shoulder. Jack headed over to the cement slab that would take him and Gwen up to the Plass.

"Be careful," Tosh called as she continued to monitor the CCTV footage from inside the Hub. "We don't know what state the Weevil is in or if it had help."

"Right," Gwen replied as she slid a can of Weevil spray into her coat pocket. She closed the black denim coat over her green sweater. "You just keep watch on our backs, Tosh."

"Oh, I like that," Jack stated as he stepped up onto the cement slab at the side of the water reservoir that pooled itself in their office from the fountain above them. Jack silently wondered just how much watching Tosh did and made a mental note to remember to erase the CCTV footage from Ianto and his special training session the night before. He then opened his vortex manipulator and waited for Gwen. He looked up as she walked over. He held out a hand to her. She took it and he pulled her up next to him.

Pushing the button to activate the lift he then snapped the wrist strap shut. As the lift started to ascend he absently put an arm around Gwen's waist, holding her still. They barely said a word as he watched them nearing the light that shone down from the brilliant sky above them.

"Do you think it had help?" Gwen turned to him and asked.

"It either had help, or someone screwed up when they locked it up," Jack said giving Gwen a look. She and Ianto had been the ones to take it down to the cells the night before.

Gwen turned away as the lift carried them through the hole in the Plass. Jack sighed and then breathed in the fresh sea air. It was going to be a long day. The two of them stepped off the lift and hurried along the Plass, Jack with his manipulator open, searching for any signs of the Weevil. The two of them nearly missed colliding with a cute gay couple walking past the fountain holding hands.

They headed outwards, getting updates from Tosh. As they reached a section of railing that overlooked the bay, Tosh reported to them that Owen and Ianto had tackled the thing outside the tourist office and were hauling it back downstairs. Catching his breath, looking into the Bay, Jack felt like he was missing something.

Gwen turned to him. "That's it?"

"For now." Jack held out his arm. "Fancy a walk back to the Hub with me?"

Gwen gave him a perplexed glare, her hands on her hips. She looked like she was about to say something but cut herself off. She let out a little chuckle and took his arm as they crossed back towards the tourist office.


End file.
